One Chance
by chica blanca
Summary: Revenge never tasted so bitter. It never was supposed to be this useless waste of life. Now Sasuke has a chance to go back and change everything.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto.

Warnings - Spoilers up to the latest manga chapter, some blood and insanity, bad language, no sex.

Info/AN - I'm new to this fandom, so I might screw up some canon, drop me a line if I do. I can't abide character bashing so you won't find any here. I like Sasuke, mainly because he's so fucked up. I don't update quickly or with any kind of real schedule. There won't really be any pairings.

XXX

Chapter 1

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

He could taste the ash in the air as he took great gulping breaths. His skin felt tight and hot, blisters already appearing on his right forearm where he had shielded his face from the intense heat. The intense heat that was now to his back and receding with each leap.

He was running.

He wasn't proud of the fact but he couldn't quite get his legs to listen to his ego. His survival instincts were screaming at him to get out of the open or at the very least listen for pursuing footsteps. But he didn't want to listen. He was trying very hard not to listen.

They were screaming. They were burning. They were dying.

And it was all his fault.

He came to a stop and slumped against a scorched wall. The only thing standing upright in at least a block, but it was enough cover to satisfy the screaming voice in his head that said to hide. He closed his eyes against the destruction, but that was worse.

Behind his eyelids images flashed in perfect clarity. Forever etched into his mind. Men, women, children screaming in terror. Lit on fire. Crushed beneath fallen debris. Cut to pieces.

The human body was such a fragile thing.

His team was dead. Karin had been the last. One minute she was standing beside him as they crouched behind a wall, waiting for an opening to escape this hell Madara created and the next minute her body jerked in front of his. His head jerked back in surprise as she slumped against him, warm wetness seeping through his shirt. He spotted the movement high and too his left. A tiny glint of silver. He carefully slid Karin down to the ground before flinging a handful of kunai at his target. He felt a stab of satisfaction as he heard the grunt and then the thump as a body fell from where it had been hiding. but his eyes were glued to Karin, who now lay in an ever widening puddle of her own blood. A kunai that had been aimed for him was lodged in her back, her breaths wet and raspy.

He felt useless. He didn't have near enough medical knowledge to even patch her up and get her mobile. He knelt down next to her and gripped her hand in his. She pulled weakly, as if she was trying to get up off the ground. He helped her into a sitting position, careful to lean her against the wall in a way that wouldn't lodge the kunai further in her back.

Karin smiled at him sadly, a trail of blood leaking from her mouth. Kneeling in front of her, Sasuke wiped the blood off her chin. He started when she reached a hand up and grabbed the front of his shirt. She pulled him closer until their noses almost touched. She flashed him a shark like grin before crushing her lips on his. He didn't have time to react before she was pushing him away. A violent cough racked her entire frame and a pink froth coated her lips.

As her eyes dimmed, one word gurgled past the now steady flow of blood leaking from her throat.

"Run."

And so he did. With the taste of her blood still on his lips, he ran.

Her death was his fault. He should have been able to sense the enemy before he attacked. Should have been able to block the attack and protect her. Should have known better than to lead his team to its destruction. Should have known better than to trust a lunatic.

Should have…

Should have…

A broken sob drug him from the depths of his dark thoughts and he looked up, surprised to find any sign of life in this broken hell. It took him a moment to spot the source of the noise, but he wasn't known for his eyes for nothing.

He pushed off the wall and hesitantly walked towards the sound. All he could see of the child was a leg and an arm from underneath a partially burned wooden beam. The child was young, probably not even two years old. He wasn't sure why the child wasn't crushed beneath the massive weight until he was practically standing over the beam.

The was another body between the child and the wooden beam. He could now see what must have been the child's mother. The woman was obviously dead. Dead to protect her child.

The child that had stopped sobbing.

He bent down to investigate further and nearly recoiled in disgust. A piece of the beam had splintered away as it fell and had stabbed through the woman and through the side of the child. Thick blood pooled beneath the two and stained the little boy's clothes a deep red.

He wanted to look away, sure that he was now looking at two corpses. Just as he forced his legs to stand, pain filled eyes blinked open and stared into his.

There was no fear. Just accusation.

It was ridiculous. The child was way too young to know who or what was causing him such pain. Too young to know that he was looking into the eyes of the man that tore his world to pieces. Too young to know such hate.

And then the eyes blinked closed once again and this time he knew they wouldn't be opening again.

He could feel his entire body shaking as he slowly backed away. He needed to get out of here. His entire body was screaming at him to get out of there. He swallowed back the panic and surveyed the landscape.

The fighting was still raging to the north. His eyes almost seemed to skip over the rolling mass of red chakra. It was like if he didn't focus on it, he wouldn't remember that he had helped set that monster loose. The battle wouldn't last much longer. The village was in ruins. Everywhere he looked he could see smoldering fires or crumbled buildings.

He couldn't stop trembling. This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't in his plans. This bloodshed, this pain, this useless loss of life. He wanted revenge, yes. But this…

He turned south and headed for what was left of the village wall.

He didn't have a plan except to run. Run and not look back.

Madara could be the last Uchiha for all he cared, Sasuke no longer wanted the name.

XXX

TWO YEARS LATER…

It was hot. And humid. Hot, humid and sticky.

And it would stay that way for at least another hour. The sun had just disappeared and the stars had started to appear in the east. Sasuke stared into his small fire and watched the three fish cook.

He liked night. The heat would break but the ground would retain enough heat from during the day to keep the temperature from dropping too low. It was also the time they showed up.

They weren't real. He knew that much. Figments of his imagination; memories brought to life by his shattered mind. He was sane enough to know he was insane. A delicate tightrope to walk.

He knew they weren't real because he knew they were dead. Even if he hadn't seen two of them die with his own eyes, he would know they were dead.

Sakura always showed up first. She always wore that same red dress and her hair was short. She would be pretty except for the long gash that started just under the right side of her ribcage and tore a jagged line up to her breastbone. She would always sit down next to him and say the same thing.

"They're always late."

And then they would wait.

Naruto always bounded in like he was late for some appointed meeting time and he overslept. He was the hardest to look at. Burns covered most of his exposed skin and then there was his stomach. Or really, the fact was, it wasn't there. From the bottom of his ribcage to the top of his pelvic bone, it looked like something had clawed it's way out of him, destroying any tissue in its way. Naruto would always greet Sakura with a big smile and Sasuke with a playful insult.

Team Hawk would show up together. There was no tension between the two teams. They were all dead, what did they have to be tense about? Karin would sit on his other side and grumble and complain about something, the kunai glinting from her back.

Kakashi was the last to join their little group of the dead and insane. He was the only one with no visible marks of his death. But chakra exhaustion left no marks.

Sakura and Naruto would yell about how he was always late, Kakashi would use one of his lame excuses and then they would all settle down in the circle around whatever campfire or shelter Sasuke had built.

But tonight was different. Sasuke could feel it in the air. Something was coming. And he had a pretty good idea what that something was.

Madara had been a fool. A fool to think he could control all nine of the bijuu. He thought of them as nothing but a power source, not the nine individual and intelligent creatures that they were. And just as he thought he had won it all, they struck.

Sasuke heard it all from second hand rumors, but there was enough facts blended in with the tall tales to put together what happened. Somehow the beasts broke free. And they decided to they wanted payback for what the shinobi put them through. Villages were attacked, chaos ensued. If it even looked like a shinobi, the bijuu would kill it.

Sasuke had been wondering when one would catch up to him. And he had a feeling which one would have a vested interest in seeing him dead. He felt a strange lack of fear, even when he recognized the thick, rolling chakra headed his way.

He did feel a slight hint of surprise when the creature finally pushed through the sparse trees and walked towards his campfire. It was the size of a small horse, where as it had once been the size of a small mountain. Instead of burning like a tongue of bright flame, it's body smoldered like dying embers and its eyes were mere flickers of they're original intensity. His whole body gave off a weary air and all nine of its tails dragged the ground. The great fox settled down on the other side of his fire, like this was all some predetermined meeting they set up long ago

"Would you like some fish?" He was hungry and his mother always told him it was polite to ask guests if they wanted to eat before you ate.

"I don't want your fish." The Kyuubi's voice was like gravel.

"Hn." Sasuke pulled one of the fish off the fire. "It's good fish. Can I at least eat one before you eat me?"

If the Kyuubi's voice was like gravel his laugh was like boulders grinding together. "I don't want to eat you either. Besides you look stringy."

Sasuke shrugged as he dug into his fish. He swallowed before saying, "I'm lean, not stringy."

"Hn. You don't seem to be afraid. Even when you thought I was going to eat you."

Sasuke shrugged again, "You're either going to eat me or you're not. What is there to be afraid of?"

"Dying?"

There was a few seconds of silence before Sasuke lost interest in his fish and stared at the Kyuubi. "Are you?"

The fox looked confused. "Am I what?"

"Afraid. Afraid of dying?"

Kyuubi waved the question away. "What do you know about the bijuu?"

Sasuke reached for another fish out of the fire. "I know they were all one creature once. And that they were divided so that they could be managed," he added dryly. "They can be bound to human containers. Lots of chakra. " He took a bite of his fish and gave Kyuubi a look that said, 'Well?'

"You're missing the most important part."

"You're all some sort of animal or animal hybrid?"

"No." Kyuubi glared at Sasuke, who was too busy eating his fish to notice. "We all have a specialty." The tone in Kyuubi's voice as he said the last word had Sasuke paying attention again. "When we were split all those years ago, it couldn't be an even split. That is nearly impossible considering our nature. As we were pulled apart, we each took a -- skill, so to speak. The Ichibi has his sand tricks, Yonbi likes to play with lava, and Hachibi," a strange look came over Kyuubi's face. "Well Hachibi's an odd one. Do you know what my skill is?"

Sasuke snapped his fingers. "I know, you must have the special skill of annoying. That explains Naruto."

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. "I really should just eat you."

"Thought you said I looked stringy."

"And you said you were just lean."

Sasuke looked into the fire. "I have one more fish left."

Kyuubi rolled his eyes. "Aren't you going to ask me?"

Sasuke huffed. "I asked you when you got here if you wanted a fish-"

"Shut up about the stupid fish!" Sasuke just blinked as the Kyuubi regained control of his emotions. "What skill do you think I possess?" The question was asked with careful calm.

Sasuke thought for a few seconds before guessing. "Healing?"

Kyuubi seemed startled. "That's actually not a bad guess considering. Maybe that mind of yours isn't all gone yet." He stared a Sasuke for a few moments before continuing. "However, it is wrong. My skill is Time."

"Time?"

Kyuubi nodded. "The manipulation of time."

Sasuke shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense. If you could manipulate time, you would just go back and change things around. You would never have been bound to Naruto or allowed Madara to do this," he waved his hand to take in the bijuu's weakened state.

"It is more complicated than that," he answered dryly. "There are certain events that are irreversible once they have occurred. Unfortunately, me being sealed into that brat was one of those events. I can go back to that point, but no further."

"So go back to that point and change things so that Madara never gets a hold of the bijuu."

"How?"

"You could tell Naruto-"

"Ha! The brat would never believe me and even if he did? He would need to be things like subtle and cunning to beat Madara. Those concepts and Naruto do not even belong on the same planet."

"You do have a plan though, don't you? You didn't just come here to teach me bijuu 101."

Kyuubi nodded. "Yes, I have a plan. I have a way to bring back the consciousness of one person with me, under certain circumstances."

"What circumstances?"

"A bond between myself and them. A bond formed when a life is saved. A bond that formed between the two of us when you saved my life."

"I saved your life?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "I think I would remember that."

"You did. On a bridge many years ago." He rolled his eyes, "Of course you didn't know I was inside Naruto at the time, but technically you did save my life as well as his."

"You want to take me back in time? Why?"

Kyuubi gave him a dull look. "I have my reasons. The question is, are you willing to take the chance? To go back and relive your life knowing the destination of the path you took? A chance to kill the man who truly tore your life apart for a grudge that lasted decades? To save those precious few who could stand to be in your presence?" His teeth glinted in the fire as his smile widened.

Sasuke closed his eyes against the grinning fox and thought of what he was being offered. It was a second chance. A chance to fix it all, to save them all. Faces flitted through his mind's eye, all those who died because of his foolishness. His eyes snapped open and stared into Kyuubi's grinning face. "Yes."

It seemed impossible, but Kyuubi's grin widened. "You have to know, this only works once. You only get this one chance to change it all."

Sasuke nodded, and then his world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Awareness came one agonizing inch at a time. The first thing he could focus on that drew him out of the dark sea of unconsciousness was the steady throbbing beat of his heart. Slowly he could make out other noises over his pulse. Water crashing against the shore, and someone crying.

Who? As he focused on this thought, his other senses came rushing back. He could feel the hard wood beneath his back, the wet, thick air entering his lungs and the feeling that someone replaced his joints with rubber cement. There was also a pressure on his chest that was preventing him from taking a deep breath.

He cracked his eyes open only to get flashes of color and light that wouldn't make sense. Blue, pink and red dominated his view as he tried to get his eyes to focus. Finally a shape took form from the mass of swirling color.

"Sakura, am I dead?"

There was a beat of silence before an ear piercing shriek had Sasuke gripping his head in agony. Trying to get up into a sitting position he found himself being smothered.

"You're alive! You're alive! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

At Sasuke's nearly strangled yelp, she let go of her stronghold around his neck and started yelling past him. "Naruto! He's ALIVE! Sasuke's okay!"

As Sasuke unsteadily rose to his feet he felt that something was very wrong. For one thing, Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi were all supposed to be dead; or at least look dead. Or look their age for that matter. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he studied Sakura standing beside him. She was young, with only a few scratches across her arms instead of the large gash that marked her death. And then it clicked. They were real.

The fox.

He looked down the bridge to where Naruto and Kakashi were squaring off with a group of thugs. He remembered this place. The bridge, the thugs, the bodies of the two rouge nin lying in pools of blood. He stared at his own hands in wonder. They were smaller, less calloused. Scars were missing.

He was in his twelve year old body.

He blinked a few times, then calmly collapsed in a heap at Sakura's feet.

XxX

When Sasuke regained consciousness for the second time, it was a much swifter transition. They had placed him on a futon in the bridge builder's house. The light from the window told him it was late morning. He could hear the daughter singing in the kitchen, but he couldn't sense anyone else in the house. He sat up and folded his legs beneath him, his elbows resting on his knees. He needed to think.

So, he was back in the past. Or at least his mind was back in his twelve year old body. Unless this was some very elaborate genjustu. Sasuke sent a wry look towards the kitchen before deciding the builder's daughter wouldn't know enough to think he was insane if she walked in on him. His hands formed the familiar sign as he barked out, "Kai!"

Nothing changed, except the singing stopped. He was already strapping on his kunai pouch when the woman came through the doorway that led to the kitchen.

"Oh, you're awake. You must be hungry."

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm fine. My team?" He hesitated with his hand over his hitai-ate. It was an odd shock seeing it there, but of course they, Sakura, would have taken it off when they laid him on the futon. Finally picking it up, he registered that the woman was blathering on about food and growing boys.

His hitai-ate hanging from his hand he shook his head and walked passed the woman and out the door. Naruto wouldn't be hard to find on his own anyway. He slipped his feet in his sandals and with a slight grimace, tied his hitai-ate around his head. It had been so long since he had worn one and the weight felt odd. He shook off thoughts of villages and betrayals as he head down the main street.

Sasuke decided the bridge was his best bet in finding his team. On the way, he organized his chaotic thoughts and tried to form a game plan.

Madara needed to die. That was an easy conclusion to come to, not so easy to accomplish. With his current assets, Sasuke would be hard pressed to kill a chunin, unless he got lucky. A handful of jutsu and a not completely formed Sharingan up against Madara? He's be lucky to last a minute. His chakra levels were pathetic as well.

So taking off right away and hunting down Madara was out. He wouldn't even really know where to start looking. Madara was busy putting together Akatsuki and gathering up the bijuu, he could wait.

The chunin exam was right after this mission. Which meant dealing with Orochimaru and all that went with him. He itched at the bare spot on his neck in memory. He was avoiding the curse seal this time around.

His thoughts settled to the back of his mind as he came to the bridge. Several Naruto were running around and he could see Sakura's pink head further down the bridge. Kakashi was sitting on the railing, his face buried in his book. For a moment, Sasuke just stood there, watching them.

"Hey bastard! You finally woke up! Get your ass to work." Naruto, or more likely one of his clones, tossed a hammer at Sasuke with a grin. "Faster we get done, the faster we can eat!"

XxX

The trip back to Kohona went smoothly enough. The only hitch was when the main gates came into view. The last time he passed through those gates they had been scorched, blood splattered and pitted with kunai. An image that was seared into his memories thanks to the Sharingan. His vision had seemed to double, the destroyed gates an after-image to their whole counterparts.

He had managed to keep his emotions to a stiffening of his shoulders and a slight faltering to his step, but he was afraid Kakashi picked up on his distress regardless. He didn't like the odd look Kakashi had thrown his way as he dismissed them.

Sasuke was now walking aimlessly around his apartment, absentmindedly running his fingers over furniture and walls. It was surreal. It felt like nearly eight years since he had last stepped foot in this apartment but at the same time he knew exactly where everything was, the memories fresh in his head.

He stopped in the small kitchen, his hand resting on the fridge door. He had neglected to turn on the lights and so the room was only illuminated by the orange glow of the streetlight outside his window. He knew he had the makings for a proper and nutritious meal, something he hadn't had the pleasure of for the two years he was on the run, but he couldn't find the motivation.

Instead he found a half eaten box of cookies in one of the cabinets and sat down at the table to eat. He stacked five cookies in a stack on the table before taking the top one off and taking a bite.

He worked his way methodically down the stack until he was staring at the last cookie, his appetite gone. With apathetic movements he tossed the lone cookie back in the box and made his way through his dark apartment to his bedroom.

He climbed onto his bed fully clothed, the blanket slung around his shoulders like a cloak, and leaned his back against the wall. It was a position he had adopted for sleeping some time ago, comfortable enough to get the rest his body required but it was also a position that if he needed, he could defend or escape an oncoming attack.

Under normal circumstances, his chokuto would be leaning against his shoulder, but tonight he would have to be satisfied with a kunai gripped in his hand, held carefully so that he didn't cut himself in his sleep. He would have to see about replacing his sword.

XxX

The Hokage stared at the slouching Kakashi as he gave his report. These were the moments when he truly felt his age. A simple escort mission gone wrong. He had yet to figure out a way to get the clients to understand that just because you only wanted to pay for a C-rank, didn't actually make the mission a C-rank. Not only were mislabeled missions dangerous to the client, they were dangerous to his shinobi as well.

Kakashi didn't come right out and say it, but they had been lucky. They had almost lost the Uchiha and the Kyuubi's charka had come into play. Kakashi had hinted heavily that the only reason they had all made it back was due to the fact the villagers decided to fight for what was theirs.

The Hokage had spent many years learning the subtle mannerisms of his men. And he could see Kakashi was worrying something, even as he was giving his report. He waited until Kakashi was done and waiting to be dismissed before idly commenting, "Is there something else you want to tell me?"

Kakashi lazily blinked his eye before shrugging. "I think that's it, Hakage-sama."

"Hn." The Third laced his fingers together and rested his elbows on his desk, mindful of the paperwork. "How long have I been your commanding officer? Just tell me what's on your mind before I get any older." He added the last part with a twist of his lips and a hint of amusement.

But Kakashi just curved his eye up in his trademark smile and shrugged. "It's nothing Hokage-sama, just my overactive imagination."

XxX

The meadow was a beautiful span of sunlight, the grass green and lush under the blue sky. A light wind blew his hair off his face as he walked further into the sunlight and out of the dark forest. She was here. He knew it with a certainty that could not be denied.

A small smile tugged at his lips when he spotted her in the middle of the circle of light cut out of the dark forest. She had her back to him, but he would know her anyways. His walk turned into a jog, and then his jog into a run, his smile widening into a laughing grin the closer her got to her.

He was only few feet away when he called out to her, "Mother!"

At the sound of his voice, she turned. With a sickening lurch in his stomach, he slammed to a stop. The once sunlit meadow turned stormy, the once lush grass was now brittle and dead. But he saw none of it. He could only stare at the once beautiful face of his mother.

Gaping, bloody holes stared back at him. Blood ran down her cheeks like tears, dripping onto her clean white shirt. She didn't seem to notice his horror, closing the distance between them. He backed away so quickly he slipped and fell.

She leaned over him, smiling softly, her fingertips lightly tracing his cheek. "My son. You must get them back."

Sasuke woke from the nightmare with a jerk. It took him several tense seconds to remember where he was and then another few minutes to get his body to accept that he wasn't in any immediate danger. He dry swallowed a few times, trying to get the cottony feeling out of his mouth and rubbed his arms trying to dispel the clammy cold sweat.

He dropped the blanket from around his shoulders and climbed out of bed. His eyes caught on the red glare of his clock that proclaimed it to be 4:32am. With the kunai still grasped in his right hand, he used his left to scrub at the tear tracks that had dried on his face and stumbled to his bathroom.

He clicked the bright lights on and blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. His bathroom was a sterile white and chrome room, small and efficient. He braced his hands against the cool ceramic of the sink and leaned towards the mirror. His reflection was something he was still getting used to.

Most of the changes were minimal. His face still held on to it's last vestiges of childhood. His hair was shorter. There was a scar missing.

Sasuke dropped the kunai in the sink with a clank and traced the smooth skin under his left eye where a thin raised scar should be. Or was it would be? He shook his head to derail that particular train of thought and went back to studying his face.

His skin was the same pale white, though under this harsh lighting looked almost translucent. With a jerk of his wrists, he turned the taps on, water splashing in the sink. He cupped his hands beneath the flow of water and splashed his face clean of the sweat and the last of the tear tracks.

Fingers pressed against his eyes, his thoughts drifted back to his dream. With a heavy sigh his arms dropped back to his side and he stared at his reflection, the eyes looked too old in his young face.

"Danzou has to die."

His reflection didn't disagree.

AN: A big THANK YOU to those who reviewed/fav'd/alerted this strange little fic of mine : )


	3. Chapter 3

AN- The last time I uploaded anything fan fiction wise was in '09...it's now '11 o.O

Keeping that in mind, I apologize for the lateness of this chapter (ha) and won't be making any promises about updates, but will admit to having an idea for where this is going. I'm crossing my fingers that this has broken my crazy horrible writers block, we'll see.

Chapter 3

His mind was blank and every muscle in his body felt rubbery and heavy. He knew he should cool down and stretch out or he would likely cramp, but he couldn't get the energy up to move from where he had collapsed.

Sasuke had originally been using this training session to exercise the chaotic thoughts that plagued him since he woke up from his nightmare, but he did learn something useful. All of his knowledge was intact. His muscle memory was nearly non-existent, but if he concentrated, the moves were there. It was just going to take time and repetition to get back to where he had been. And quite a bit of charka building.

That was the problem he was contemplating as he picked himself off the ground and headed out of the training grounds. He had an idea, but it was risky in more ways than one. If he got caught, he'd be on the run a lot sooner than planned and his opportunity to strike at Danzou would be squandered. He wasn't entirely sure he could get at Danzou inside the village walls anyway, but to waste any slim chance he had at crossing the man's name off his must kill list seemed unwise.

And then, if he completely ignored the legality of the equation, he wasn't sure his twelve year old body could handle the jutsu. He hadn't studied it, or even seen the scroll it was recorded in, merely overheard a conversation that mentioned it and how useful it would be. If, you know, it wasn't locked deep in one of Kohona's libraries.

Sasuke wandered through the noontime traffic as he walked further into the village and came to the conclusion that he had to do something. The small spark where he was used to a steady flame was disconcerting at best. And truthfully, he knew he was next to useless at the moment which galled him more than he cared to admit, even to himself.

XxX

He remembered it being a much shorter time period between coming home from Wave and learning of the Chunin Exam, but it was three weeks of boring D-ranks and trying to keep Kakashi from realizing something was off with him before he spotted the hawk bearing the summons that had Kakashi making excuses and leaving in a cloud of leaves.

He had to fight the insane urge to scream "Finally!" at the top of his lungs. If he had to endure another week of trash collecting or weeding he was going to lose the little bit of control he managed to cobble together. He started off, thinking he might finalize some plans concerning his chakra issue when Sakura called out to him to stop.

He had forgotten how annoying she used to be, but he couldn't forget the ghost that used to haunt him. Anytime a cruel remark started to cross his lips, an afterimage of her, slashed and bloodied would force itself into his head. His fault. And so, where he would have simply ignored her, or brushed her off, he turned back to her and waited.

"Sasuke, since we, ah…have the rest of the day off, well I was thinking, maybe, well if you'd want to maybe do something? Er, together, I mean?" She flushed deep red as the words tumbled from her mouth.

He never really understood her crush on him. Especially at this age. He had been cruel and cold, disinterested being the understatement. But he had to give her a bit of respect for sticking her neck out like that time and time again.

"I have errands I need to run." He tried to make the rejection soft but he could still see the hurt cross her face.

"Ah, Sakura, leave Sasuke to his errands. Come train with me!" Naruto practically bounced in place which only caused Sakura's expression to go from hurt to annoyed. She turned on him, obviously about to yell at him for butting in, and Sasuke decided now was a good as time as any to slip away unnoticed.

He got about a two hundred yards when Sakura's outraged scream caused him to stop again, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he turned back the way he had come. A shriek of pure terror followed, peaking his interest enough to head back.

When he came upon the scene the memory hit him full force. The Sand siblings. Kankuro held the Hokage's grandson in the air by his throat while Temari looked annoyed. Naruto and Sakura were screaming at him to let the boy go, while the other kids were cowering behind them in fear.

Sasuke couldn't believe he had forgotten this was how he had met the Sand siblings. He wondered when Gaara would show up.

"I'd let him go if I were you." He grimaced at the clichéd line, but leaned against the alley fence and tried to keep his composure.

"Really? Why? You gonna do something about it?" Kankuro laughed as if that was a hilarious idea.

Sasuke made an exaggerated show of thinking it over before replying. "Well, I mean, he is the Hokage's grandson." He smirked as the color drained from Temari's face, she was always the quickest of the three. "And I wouldn't want this to turn into some kind of international incident, you know, the Kazekage's son attacking the Hokage's much younger grandson…" He trailed off as Kankuro obviously saw where he was going and dropped the kid quickly.

"He ran into me!" Kankuro accused, but Temari was ready to do damage control. Sasuke knew that she knew that with the coming invasion, they couldn't afford to be kicked out before the big day. And Kazekage's children or not, beating up a defenseless child, much less the grandson of the Hokage, was guaranteed to get them pulled from the exam and banned from the village.

"Ignore my idiot brother." She elbowed him harshly and shot him a warning look. "Of course we wouldn't want to do anything to unbalance the current peace between our two villages."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Of course not. Nobody wants a war."

"A war would be truly unfortunate." The bland voice came from a limb of the tree that Sasuke remembered as the one he made his grand entrance in before. It was almost amusing the way everyone else jumped when Gaara spoke, Kankuro in particular. Gaara caught his gaze for a moment before disappearing in a cloud of sand and reappearing beside his siblings. "I hope my brother did no lasting damage."

The lack of sincerity in his voice couldn't be overlooked and when Naruto made a move to most likely do something stupid like yell that Kankuro needed to apologize, Sasuke yanked him back by his jacket.

"What the-" Naruto sputtered.

"No lasting damage," he assured.

Sasuke was suddenly struck by how young Gaara looked. He was just a kid…a trigger happy, bloodthirsty kid, yes, but still so young. Sasuke wanted to tell him his father was dead, and that Gaara was probably better off for it. Wanted to tell him to hold on to Shukaku, he could control the one tail. Wanted to tell him that he died a hero.

The look Gaara was sending him snapped him back to the present. Or this present at least. It was predatory and curious, two things Sasuke didn't want Gaara, especially this Gaara, feeling towards any of them. So with his hand still fisted in Naruto's jacket, Sasuke turned and walked away, dragging a protesting blonde and trusting the others to follow. When he was sure Naruto wouldn't turn around and do something stupid to provoke Gaara, he let him go.

"You're just gonna let him get away with that!"

"How did you know they were the Kazekage's children?"

"That was so cool! Did you see Sasuke be all, 'I wouldn't do that, jerk face' and they totally listened to him!"

Sasuke blocked them all out. He had been so focused on the large threats, he had forgotten just how dangerous the exams themselves could be. And Gaara, Gaara was a threat he couldn't ignore. And soon they would be sharing a forest of death with not only a homicidal demon container, but also Orochimaru and his minions.

The answer came so suddenly and was so simplistic he felt the need to bang his head against a wall for not thinking of it sooner.

XXX

"Just make sure you turn in the form-, wait, what did you say?"

Sasuke was almost proud, in an admittedly immature way, that he had managed to shock the unflappable Kakashi.

"Not interested," Sasuke repeated, balling up the form and tossing it towards a trashcan.

"How can you not be interested?" Naruto half asked, half screamed. Kakashi seemed to be content to let Naruto get to the bottom of the situation and leaned back and watched. "I mean, it's the Chunin Exams! We can totally kick butt! Why wouldn't you be interested in kicking butt? I mean, I know you suck, but come on, you'll have me! I can totally win this thing!"

Sasuke just stared flatly as Naruto continued to explain, in rather colorful detail, just how he would win the Exams and somehow manage to drag Sasuke up to the top with him. He vaguely wondered why Sakura was left out of this little fantasy, until Naruto launched into a scenario where he defended Sakura from some evil judges. Or something. It was hard to keep up with Naruto's ramblings when he really got going.

Sasuke wondered just how long Kakashi was going to let this continue. He came to the conclusion that this was Kakashi, so probably all afternoon.

"We're not ready," He cut across Naruto's speech, ignoring the sputtering blonde he interrupted. "I wouldn't want to embarrass ourselves, nor our village. Shouldn't we be training?" He arched an eyebrow towards their lazy sensei.

Kakashi gave him a long look, during which Sasuke tried to look completely nonplussed about the attention. "I suppose I can stop by the mission office and see if there is anything."


	4. Chapter 4

AN- An update, I'm as surprised as you are :P

Chapter 4

"This is a rather rash and idiotic plan. Rather Naruto-like if I do say so myself."

Sasuke didn't even look up from the wards he was attempting to disable. "No, Naruto would have kicked down the doors, alerted every alarm, and instead of having time to look for the scroll in question, would be running from the ANBU."

"Okay, maybe you're right about that…but this is still an idiotic plan. You're risking so much on a hunch."

"Not a hunch. It's in there."

"You hope. And you hope in the extremely unlikely event that this little mission pans out, the jutsu in question doesn't fry your chakra coils."

"It won't."

"Uh-huh."

"It won't."

"Maybe you're hoping it will?"

That had Sasuke pausing, hands still metaphorically tangled in the Archives wards. "And why would I hope my own chakra coils fry? That's insane."

"Says the man talking to a hallucination. It would be a huge weight off of your back wouldn't it?"

"Stop trying to look underneath something that doesn't have an underneath to look under." He returned his attention to the wards. "Besides, if I fried my chakra coils, on purpose no less," he rolled his eyes at that ridiculous accusation, "Then I would never get my revenge…and how exactly would I keep Naruto and Sakura from stumbling into their own deaths?"

"Aw, I don't rate a mention?"

"I trust you to look after yourself." A particularly twisted knot in the wards had him twisting his head sideways before activating the Sharigan.

His whole body froze as his vision warped into the familiar haze and focus; too familiar. He felt the first inklings of panic and unease start to crawl over his skin but he pushed the feeling back forcefully and focused on the wards.

"Hm, that's interesting."

Sasuke pulled the last ward free and deactivated the Sharigan with a slight shudder. "No. Not interesting." He pushed the doors open, thankful that the Archives rated so low on the priority list that they were only guarded by wards and not any human counterparts.

Sasuke stared, mouth slightly open and head tilted in disbelief, at the rows and stacks of scrolls that lined the walls from floor to ceiling.

"Don't suppose they're in alphabetical order, huh?" Kakashi grinned behind his mask before burying his nose in his own book.

XXX

Kakashi could not concentrate on his book.

Which was starting to get rather irritating. Each time he tried to focus on the plot of his book, and yes there was plot, he kept getting derailed. Truth was, there was something odd with his team. And he really didn't like unpredictability.

And that's what one member of the dysfunctional (but up until now at least predictable) group he calls his team, had become. It all started right after the Wave mission. Sasuke almost died, almost watched his teammates die, it's no wonder he's acting off.

But there were some things that just didn't mesh with classic near death experience aftermath. The twitching and skittishness made complete sense, except for their increase the closer they got to Kohona. The complete turnaround from overconfident show-off to modest don't-wish-to-embarrass-the-village because we're such inferiors could simply be the result of a hard hit from reality. But there was the fact that Sasuke didn't wish to embarrass his village, rather than his clan. A simple change, but one sending red flags up in Kakashi's mind.

It didn't help that each time Kakashi convinced himself that he was overreacting, a single incident would force its way into his mind, which just led him back into a spiral of indecisiveness.

He'd been supervising his team (reading his book) on a simple D Rank mission which involved weeding a garden on the outskirts of the village. They'd been at it for an hour, with a surprising minimal amount of bickering between the three when he sensed the ANBU squad pass by. They'd been about fifty yards to the east, heading north at a sedate pace and only caught Kakashi's peripheral attention.

He wouldn't have thought anything of it, ANBU squads pass by rather frequently inside the village gates and most of the elite could at least sense them, if he hadn't caught Sasuke's reaction.

While the other two went about their weeding with no reaction (as they should. To think, genin picking up the charka signals of an ANBU squad) Sasuke stilled, his head tilted in the direction of the squad, an odd look passing over his face. It only lasted a half a heartbeat, but it had been there none the less.

Kakashi has had the odd pleasure of seeing missing nin realize the exact moment that the hunter nin had caught up with them. It's a prey look, equal parts fear and determination, especially if the missing nin in question has evaded capture before.

But that couldn't have been the look on Sasuke's face that afternoon. Impossible. Sasuke was not a missing nin, nor did Kakashi think Sasuke had done anything that would warrant the attention of the ANBU. At least without Kakashi hearing about it. Besides, he couldn't even be completely sure Sasuke had sensed the squad. He could have just had a startling thought coincidently as the squad was passing by. Fates' way of driving Kakashi even further into madness, perhaps.

He smacked himself in the face with his own book, as if to prove his last thought true, before tossing the book towards the end of his bed.

"This isn't working. I need a drink."

XXX

"I'm going to need a drink after this," Sasuke complained as he flipped through the seventh scroll written by the late Mori Ōgai. It was a mix of completely dry medical babble interspersed with moments of complete psychopathy.

"You're twelve."

"Right." Sasuke made a noise of disgust low in his throat. "This is…": He slammed the scroll back into the slot he pulled it from with a growl. "Why couldn't Kaito have killed his sensei after he extracted the entire jutsu from him, instead of just the location?"

"Because he's really bad at interrogation?"

"That was a rhetorical question, moron." He sighed as he pulled the next scroll down, his hopes of actually finding the jutsu, or even that it was here at all and not just some dying man's ploy, dwindling.

But an hour later, when he was just about ready to admit defeat, at least for the night, he found it. He had to reread it three times, just to make sure it was what he was looking for, but there it was. Barely a footnote on another entry about spider venom, Sasuke marveled at the simplicity.

"I can't believe this is just tucked away in some useless scroll. What was Mori thinking?" Sasuke scrubbed a hand over tired eyes and groaned. "This is too good to be true."

"You're the one who was so sure it would be here, now you're complaining because you found it?"

"I expected a complex jutsu, not this…" he gestured at the scroll still laid open in his lap. "This is simple enough to understand a genin could pull it off," he tilted his head and added, "even if it does look like if you overdo it you could explode."

"That could be fun to watch."

Sasuke shot him a glare before rolling the scroll and returning it to its rightful place. "It just seems too easy."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?"

Sasuke just shook his head and left.

XXX

Kakashi was regretting his choice of walking in the bar versus getting his alcohol and going home. While, yes, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be paying for his booze tonight, the company was starting to grate on his nerves.

"I'm telling you, it's all about versatility." Anko's hands were gesturing rather sloppily by this point, "So many different varieties of venom."

"But that takes time." Kurenai leaned back in her chair and gestured with her drink, her elbow bumping into Genma's back. Genma, who was currently chatting up the woman at the table behind them, and having little success. "Oops, sorry." She failed to hide her smile when he turned to glare at her.

Anko snorted. "Some take seconds at the most."

Kurenai rolled her eyes. "A sharp object to a main artery takes even less."

"But there's no art in that! Every shinobi to throw a kunai knows how to kill someone with it. It takes skill to kill someone with style." She looked around the table intent on finding someone to agree with her. "Right, Asuma?"

Asuma, taking on the characteristics of a man faced with two rather bad choices, took a drag on his cigarette and shrugged helplessly.

Growling at his indecisiveness she turned her glare on Kakashi. "What about you Kakashi?"

"I once killed a man with a carrot."

XXX

Sasuke needed to sleep. It was a couple of hours before dawn and he had to be at the bridge to meet the others shortly after dawn. Although there was always the few hours they waited for Kakashi to show up in which he could take a nap.

He shot a half-hearted glare towards the image of Kakashi that was currently perched on his desk, reading his book. "You would think we'd be smart enough to figure out that you're always late, so why did we always show up on time?"

Kakashi didn't even look up from his book. "Because, back then, you were more afraid that I'd show up before you did than you were annoyed that I was always late." He looked up with a fond look on his face. "Aw, the days when you three still thought I could crush you like bugs. Or would take delight in doing so."

Sasuke felt something twist in his gut. Spending all night reading the words of a man killed by his own student was dragging memories up he'd rather left buried. As shallowly buried as they were, with Kakashi haunting his desk.

"Don't."

"Stop reading my mind, it's creepy," Sasuke complained, pulling his blanket up further over his shoulders.

"I am your mind. Or a product of it anyway." Kakashi flipped his book shut and focused solely on Sasuke's huddled form. "Kakashi is not dead. So stop this dive into self-hatred. You don't have the luxury of time or energy to dwell on things that have not happened."

"Not happened, yeah sure." Sasuke burrowed further into his blanket and shut his eyes, hoping for at least a few hours of deep sleep.

Only to be wrenched out of sleep an hour later thanks to a memory masquerading as a nightmare. He could still see Naruto's trusting face as Sasuke signed his death sentence by turning his back and walking away.

He looked around his empty bedroom, trying to shake his uneasiness and get back to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, Naruto's face swam back into view. He sighed in frustration as his eyes flew back open.

There was nothing to it; he'd have to check on the moron. Grumbling, he climbed out his window and made the short trip to Naruto's apartment. He'd look through the idiot's window, see that he was happily drooling on his pillow and maybe catch a few hours of sleep on the bridge before the others showed up.

Only Naruto wasn't happily drooling on his pillow. In fact, he wasn't in his apartment at all. The uneasiness Sasuke had been hoping to quell, grew tenfold. He set off to search the village for the moron.

XXX

Kakashi stumbled out of the bar, the east just starting to lighten. He knew he would be regretting not going home when Kurenai and Asuma made their excuses when the headache finally hit him later on, but at least his mind was free of black haired students of his that like to tie his mind in knots.

That was until he noticed said black haired student leap from the building on his left to the building adjacent.

"Shit."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kakashi was not nearly drunk enough that following his student posed any sort of problem, but he had to admit that the curiosity that started this chase was slowly leading into frustration. Sasuke was looking for something, or someone, that was apparent, Kakashi just wished he'd hurry up and find whatever it was. He had finally been ready to crawl into his nice comfy bed and forget the world for a few hours, running around the village at this early hour really wasn't a better alternative. But he knew, just as he couldn't sleep when in the middle of a new book, he wouldn't have been able to sleep knowing Sasuke was running around the village when he should be asleep.

Finally, Sasuke seemed to hone in on whatever he was looking for and Kakashi found himself concealed in a tree by the edge of a playground. Its central focus was a metal merry go round, and coincidentally seemed to be Sasuke's central focus as well. At least the figure sitting on it was.

Kakashi wondered if Sakura was also roaming the early morning streets or if it was solely the male part of the team that had the urge to do so tonight. From his hiding spot, he could clearly see Naruto's face, and the surprise that flashed across it when Sasuke approached him. Not a planned meeting, then.

"What are you doing here?" Under the irritation, Kakashi could hear a faint note of relief in Sasuke's voice.

Naruto's expression changed from surprise to anger. "What do you care?" He tried to angrily shove the merry go round so that he would swivel away from Sasuke, but Sasuke quickly grabbed the passing bar and jarred the merry go round to a stop.

"Right, I care so little that I've spent the last hour searching the village for you, instead of sleeping."

Naruto looked as confused as Kakashi felt. "Why?"

Sasuke seemed to still, head tilted as if in thought, as if he hadn't even considered the idea that he wouldn't care that Naruto wasn't safely in his bed. He exhaled harshly before shoving Naruto over so that he could sit beside him on the merry go round.

"I care," Sasuke seemed to be choosing his words carefully, "because you are my teammate."

Naruto stood angrily, causing the merry go round to move slightly. "I can take care of myself!"

"I am well aware of that." It was Sasuke's turn to look confused. Kakashi realized now that he could see Sasuke clearly, he also looked exhausted.

When Naruto turned back at Sasuke's words, Kakashi lost his visibility on the boy's face, but he could see the tension in every line of his body. "What?"

Sasuke sagged against the bar, weariness making his face appear older than the mere twelve he was. "Just because I care about you does not mean that I think you can't take care of yourself." His face twitched. "Not that you don't have a knack for getting yourself into sticky situations." His brow furrowed. "And think everyone deserves a second chance, or hundred and second." His face was marred by a full scowl now. "And have a self-sacrificing streak a mile wide."

Naruto scoffed, "Like you're one to talk about self-sacrifice."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke was sincerely confused.

"A bridge, sebon, you jumping in front of me…any of this ringing a bell?" Naruto was pacing now, arms flailing a bit with the points he was making.

Dawning comprehension overtook Sasuke's confusion before other emotions flashed through his eyes. Kakashi found it was hard to decipher most of them, but guilt and regret featured heavily. As Kakashi was pondering just what Sasuke had to feel guilty over, that niggling voice in the back of his mind wondered why Sasuke had to be reminded of the bridge incident if it was the reason for his oddness.

Sasuke dropped his gaze to his lap as his hands gripped his knees. "Oh yeah, that."

Kakashi's curiosity was piqued and he hoped Naruto might ask some of the questions that were now buzzing through his brain, but Naruto seemed to be battling internally over what he was going to say next.

It was several minutes of tense silence, where both boys seemed determined to look anywhere but at each other, until Naruto finally came to a decision. Kakashi thought it might have been the longest time Naruto ever thought before speaking his mind.

"Sasuke, about the exam…"

"No."

A distinct sound of frustration echoed around the nearly empty playground. "But, why?" Naruto's whine stretched out the last word for several seconds.

Sasuke was again wearily leaning against the bar, head tilted so he could look Naruto in the eye. "Why do you want to compete so badly?"

Naruto dropped his gaze to his shuffling feet. "You'll laugh at me," he muttered.

"I won't."

Kakashi shifted so he was slightly more comfortable on his branch, believing the way the two boys were considering each other so intensely he could dance naked around the trunk and they probably wouldn't notice. He had always considered the boys' relationship to be the love-hate of siblings, but Sasuke was projecting so much more in that simple statement. Kakashi wondered briefly if Sasuke might like Naruto in more than a brotherly fashion. It would account for the boy's utter indifference towards the girls regularly fawning over him.

But that didn't explain any of his other odd behaviors.

"Promise?" Naruto tremulously asked.

Sasuke leaned forward with elbows resting on his knees. "Promise."

It made for an interesting scene, with Sasuke seated and staring up at a nervous looking Naruto. Sasuke was the epitome of calm patience, so unlike his usual short fused temper. He didn't rush Naruto as the boy was having a bit difficulty putting his thoughts to words.

"I want," Naruto started haltingly, "I want to be acknowledged. I'm not just the dead last prankster who can't carry his weight on a team." Naruto chewed his lip nervously before barreling on, "I want the village to be proud to have me as its protector. I'm tired," he hesitated, still unsure, "I'm tired of the looks. Maybe if they see how hard I'm willing to work in the exam…" Naruto trailed off, his eyes bright with emotion.

Kakashi felt a stab to his gut. No child should feel this way, much less one which was put on such a hard path without his consent, all to save the village who despised him so. He wouldn't deny there was a hefty dose of guilt mixed in. He had been so young when his sensei died. He had barely been able to hold himself together, instead losing himself in the ANBU ranks. He would never have been able to look after a newborn.

Those facts didn't make the guilt lessen.

Sasuke's face hardened with determination, "You don't owe them anything." He practically hissed the words, causing Naruto to take a step back in shock. "They dare blame a child…call him demon…" Sasuke looked a bit crazed, ignoring the way Naruto's eyes widened in fear at the word demon.

Kakashi felt unease creep down his back as he wondered if Sasuke knew, or if his word choice was merely by chance. But all thoughts of village secrets, and who knew them flew out of his mind as Sasuke stood abruptly from the merry go round and started pacing.

A bitter laugh escaped Sasuke's lips. "Sometimes I forget why." He didn't seem to be speaking at Naruto anymore, but at the world at large. "They're such fools, the lot of them." He stopped suddenly, his eyes widened with a realization before they filled with shame and regret. "Not worth it." He whispered the words but Kakashi was able to catch his voice on the slight wind.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked tentatively, worry etched in every line on his face. Sasuke turned slightly to face him fully. "Do you know?" he asked the question more with his eyes and body language than with his words. He obviously wanted to know the answer, but didn't want to give anything away in the question in case his suspicions were wrong.

Sasuke blinked a few times, obviously trying to decipher what Naruto was trying to ask him. "Do I know?" He tilted his head to the side in obvious confusion as he seemed to mentally replay their conversation before dawning realization crossed his face once more. "About the Nine-tails? Yeah, I know."

He said it so matter-of-factly Kakashi nearly fell out of his tree. He blamed the slight fumble on the alcohol he had consumed early.

"You don't hate me?" Naruto held his breath, eyes wide as he awaited the verdict.

"Why would I hate you?"

Naruto opened his mouth but couldn't seem to decide what to say. Sasuke only let the silence last a beat before smugly saying, "See, even you can't think of a reason. And so what? You have a bloodthirsty monster in your bellybutton, we all have our demons." A wry smile tugged at Sasuke's lips. "Even if most of us have figurative demons."

"You really don't care?"

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's not as if you went looking for more power. Or asked, or volunteered…" He was cut off as Naruto launched himself at him and wrapped his arms around him in a bone crushing hug.

With a slightly bemused expression on his face, Sasuke awkwardly wrapped his arms around the emotional blonde. Naruto was muttering something into the crook of Sasuke's neck, but Kakashi couldn't quite catch what it was.

Sasuke, with his chin resting on Naruto's shoulder, sighed. "They're idiots. I'm pretty sure I've voiced this opinion already." More muttering on Naruto's part made Kakashi actually miss the boy's normally overly loud way of expressing himself. "It's not worth the risks…"

Naruto pulled slightly away so that he could look Sasuke directly in the eyes. "Please, Sasuke?"

Sasuke closed his eyes as if in pain and he swallowed thickly. His answer was quiet and Kakashi had to strain to hear it. "Okay."

Naruto's smile nearly split his face in two and he returned to his previous bone crushing hug. "Thank you."

Sasuke rested his chin back on Naruto's shoulder with a sigh. "I am so going to regret this."

Kakashi left his hiding place with more new questions and a distinctly uneasy feeling in his gut.

AN- Reviews are love and inspiration :)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Naruto wanted to dance with joy and shout for the world to hear that Uchiha Sasuke knew and still did not hate him. He wanted to laugh at how worried he had been that Sasuke would even bat an eye when he learned of the bloodthirsty monster living in his bellybutton.

But he didn't do any of these things. Instead he was sitting quietly, watching Sasuke as he slept. The boy had lodged himself between two of the railings of the bridge, without a care that he might topple off into the water below, and had nearly instantly fallen to sleep.

It didn't appear to be a restful sleep, however. That was part of the reason Naruto was keeping both eyes on the other boy, in case he had to jump in a save Sasuke from a wet wake up. But now that he was really looking at him, he was startled to see how broken he looked.

Dark circles marred beneath his eyes and his skin looked stretched too tight across his cheekbones. Naruto wondered just when the last time Sasuke ate a full meal. His shoulders were hunched and tense even in sleep and Naruto winced in sympathy as he heard Sasuke grind his jaw, the muscles standing out tense.

He was trying to think up a way to get a full meal in Sasuke when Sakura stepped on the bridge. Naruto jumped off the railing he'd been perching on and quickly intercepted Sakura with a quick shushing.

"He's sleeping," Naruto whispered, gesturing towards Sasuke, who was now scowling in his sleep.

"Is he sick?" Sakura asked, matching Naruto's quiet tone.

An unnaturally serious look came over Naruto's face. "I'm not sure." He bit his lip as he looked back towards Sasuke. "Hey, Sakura?"

"Hm?" Sakura was now looking just as concerned as Naruto felt.

"I don't think he's eating well." He locked eyes with her and was relieved to see his determination mirrored back in her eyes.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that now, won't we?"

XXX

Ito Ootora was what they called a career chunin. He was perfectly fine with this, as he felt no shame in being one of the sturdy blocks that held Kohona up.

This particular evening he was in a rather good mood. He had managed to pawn off the early morning shift tomorrow so he could sleep in. His roommate was out on an extended mission so he had the TV all to himself and he had leftover takeout waiting in the fridge. He was close to home, just had to walk the short distance down an alley to get to his building, his mind on food and TV, when his body reacted to the threat of the kunai. He was turned, in stance, with kunai in hand before his mind registered the threat at all.

As soon as he turned around, his focus snapped to the glowing red and black eyes and all else faded into the background. He felt his world shift, as everything was washed away in creeping blackness, except for those unblinking, glowing eyes.

He couldn't breathe, but didn't feel the normal constrictive panic of not getting air, couldn't blink, but his eyes didn't burn. Couldn't move, couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet or even the gravity that was holding him to it. Couldn't feel the humid air or hear any sounds.

It was as if he had been stripped of all senses except for sight, and all he could see were the eyes. There was no malice in them, no hatred or pity or judgment. They just watched him.

The first sense of anything, was a sense of tugging. It was gentle at first, a tug that centered in his chest and grew stronger. There was no pain, just a feeling of exhaustion. Eventually the tugging ended. He tried to think how long he'd been trapped, but time didn't seem to exist without his heartbeat to keep time.

It could have been minutes, hours, lifetimes. He felt like he was losing bits of himself to the blackness. It was hard to remember touch and sound and smell. But there was no fear, just a sense of nothingness.

And then the eyes closed and he was alone in the blackness. Cracks of light spider webbed from where the eyes had been, growing until they surrounded him. They shattered the blackness and his world tilted once again.

His body shuddered as it took great gulping breathes, and his eyes blinked tears away rapidly. His mind caught up and realized he was lying on the ground, the hard stone pressed against his back as he stared up at the dark sky. Sounds blared in his ears and he could feel the concussion of many pairs of feet not far from him.

A face appeared in his field of vision, bright blue eyes crinkled in concern.

"Are you alright?"

He tried to speak, to explain about the eyes and the blackness, but when he opened his mouth the only thing he could utter was a noise somewhere between a moan and a whimper.

The face came closer, and he realized it was female. Some small part of his brain recognized the uniform of a medic nin. Her hands were on him, looking for injuries, the touch nearly burning. She retreated for a moment, issuing orders for someone to bring out stretcher, but then her face filled his vision once more.

"It's going to be alright. But I need to know, do you know what happened? Who did this to you?"

Ito Ootora had only been sixteen when the massacre happened, but he knew what a Sharigan looked like. He swallowed thickly before uttering one word, "Uchiha."

XXX

Sasuke nearly felt giddy, full of power and nearly bouncing down the street. Something had finally gone right. The jutsu had gone off without a hitch, though there was a tense moment when Sasuke was worried he'd taken too much chakra from the man.

But he had left him in front of the hospital and beyond a little bit of chakra exhaustion he should be fine. Sasuke had even decided to use a stasis jutsu that he learned in his days under Madara so that the man would feel no pain or fear. Sasuke was always rather partial to that jutsu versus going under sedation; the floating feeling of nothingness was a relief, a few hours of peace.

He felt it was a fair price to pay for the man's chakra.

He would have preferred lightning type, but fire was a suitable substitute. For the first time since the fox dragged his consciousness back and shoved it into this underdeveloped body, he had a feeling of control. He had a feeling that failure might actually be avoidable.

He was immersed in the night time crowd of the market district when he heard a familiar voice call his name. He turned to see Sakura, a cloth bag slung over her shoulder and fighting the crowd to make her way to him.

"Hey, what's got you out and about?" She tugged her shoulder strap and offered a smile.

Sasuke just shrugged, a smile of his own tugging at his lips. He couldn't fight the good mood his borrowed power was giving him.

She raised an eyebrow in amazement. She only hesitated for a second before asking, "Well, if you're not doing anything, want to have dinner with me?" A blush rushed up her neck as she realized how forward that sounded before stuttering out a quick, "Cause I'm eating anyways and Mom's not going to be home till late so I figure what's the point of cooking and…"

Sasuke held up a hand to cut her rambling, a true smile on his face. "Where do you want to eat?"

The Chunin Exam might start tomorrow, with all the madness and madmen that went with it. But Sasuke had power again, and as he slung an arm across a surprised Sakura's shoulder, all he could think was, bring it on.

XXX

Kakashi looked around his immaculate apartment. Everything was in its place. The books were all lined up and in order on the bookshelf, the laundry bag was sitting by the door waiting for its trip to the laundry mat, an ANBU mask was peering through his window, the clean dishes were stacked and drying next to the sink, and his desk was study in organized chaos.

With a slightly annoyed sigh, he really wanted to sleep tonight, he crossed the room and threw open the window.

"The Hokage demands your presence."

Kakashi stared through the eyeholes of the mask, trying to guess who might be under it, and leaned against the open window. "I'm guessing that since it warrants a personal messenger that this can't wait till morning?" It was less of a question and more of a hopeful plea.

"I'm supposed to escort you there immediately."

Kakashi felt something twist in his gut as he followed the dark shadow of the ANBU out his window. He hoped this had nothing to do with his growing concerns about Sasuke, but with his luck, he wasn't counting on it.

XXX

"I just don't know what changed your mind." Sakura took a bite of her noodle dish and shot Sasuke a puzzled look.

Sasuke, chewing a bite of his own food, shrugged. He swallowed and drily offered up an explanation of "Well, Naruto can be rather persistently annoying."

Sakura laughed softly at that. "That is true." She stirred her food in silence.

After a few false starts, Sasuke was pleasantly surprised that he was enjoying his conversation with Sakura. She still wasn't completely at ease with him, but she had stopped her nervous rambling and was blushing less.

She stopped playing with her food and looked back up at him, a serious look on her face. "I just don't know if we're ready. I mean, of course you are." She rolled her eyes. "And I suppose Naruto could annoy someone to death if he had too," she chewed on her lip, worry coloring her voice. "But I'm just not sure if I'm ready."

Sasuke shrugged. "Naruto and I will protect you."

Sakura dropped her chopsticks on her plate with a clatter and made a frustrated noise deep in her throat. "That's the problem. I'm a full member of this team. I shouldn't need anyone to keep protecting me. I'm not helpless." She seemed more intent on convincing herself rather than him.

Sasuke vaguely wondered when he became the confiding ear for his team, and if Kakashi was going to pop up next for a chat about his crushing guilt over his dead teammates.

He didn't know what to say either. Should he prod her into training more? Or comfort her ego and agree that she wasn't helpless? The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, but what if coddling her prevented her from pushing herself?

He couldn't do this. He'd die for her, kill for her, but this was beyond his capabilities. He opened his mouth to try and change the subject, fake a choking incident, or something, when his eyes caught on to a perfect distraction.

"Kakashi sensei, what are you doing here?"

AN- It's short, and late, but I've had three migraines in the past week and a half and so, yeah. But doctors are good and drugs are great, so updates should be faster in coming. I want to thank all the reviewers :), y'all make my day.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A squad of four was moving out as Kakashi was ushered into the Hokage's office. He tried to place the blame of the extra visible ANBU stationed around on the exam and the high number of foreign ninja in the village, but the cynical part of his brain wasn't buying it.

"Ah, Hokage-sama, something you wanted?"

The Third looked up from the mountain of files piled over the surface of his desk, and his expression caused the knot in Kakashi's stomach to tighten. "There has been an attack."

Kakashi felt his body straighten as he mentally went over the supplies he had on hand. "Inside the village walls? Do we have the numbers on the enemy? Any casualties?"

The Third nodded, "One injured. He was found in front of the main hospital gates."

Mentally grinding to a halt, Kakashi blinked. "One?"

Flipping open another file, this one stamped with the official hospital seal, "Yes, one Ito Ootora, Chunnin. Admitted at 1900 hours with severe hypersensitivity and moderate chakra exhaustion. Stable condition."

For a so called genius, Kakashi was still rather stuck. "Stable…" he shook his head firmly; trying to get his brain back on the tracks it derailed from. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, am I missing something?"

The Third placed his elbows on the various bits of paperwork and interlaced his fingers. "He claims to have been attacked with the Sharingan."

He forced his muscles to loosen, hyperaware of the number of eyes currently on him. "Am I a suspect?" his tone completely neutral.

The Third let the silence stretch for a moment before shaking his head. "No, he was quite adamant that he saw a pair of Sharingan, not your lone eye."

"Itachi."

"Possibly."

Kakashi blinked, "Possibly?"

The Third just gave him a look that just said, you're a genius, don't act dense.

"You don't think…Sasuke?" Kakashi was careful how much derision he let bleed through in his voice, acutely aware that although he was allowed some freedoms, this was the Hokage he was talking to.

"You don't think it's possible that he has activated the Sharingan without your notice."

Again, Kakashi had to remind himself to keep his tone completely neutral. "It is possible, however unlikely, that he would have activated his Sharingan and been able to utilize it in an attack without my knowledge."

The Third leaned back in his chair and scrutinized Kakashi carefully. "You think it's more likely that Itachi snuck back into the village in order to attack a lowly chunin? Attack and not kill?"

That was a hard argument to back. But the thought that Sasuke had enough proficiency with the Sharingan to attack a chunin level nin, but didn't have it (or chose not to use it) in Wave was just ridiculous. So if those two options weren't palpable…

"Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way." The Third made a vague gesture with his hand that Kakashi took as permission to continue. "Maybe it wasn't actually the Sharingan."

"You think the chunin was lying?"

Kakashi let his gaze wander as he thought that option through. "Possible. Or someone made it look like he was being attacked with the Sharingan."

"What purpose would that serve?"

"Maybe they were trying to discredit Sasuke before the Exam." It sounded weak even to his ears, and Kakashi could see the same skepticism in the Third's face.

The Third sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Maybe. Or maybe it was Sasuke himself," he continued quickly and shot Kakashi a look that said he knew Kakashi's opinion on that, "or maybe Itachi's back in the village. Either way, I want you to watch Sasuke. If Itachi is back in the village," he trailed off.

Kakashi nodded his understanding.

The Hokage just stared at him for a moment with a look Kakashi couldn't read, before waving him off, "Dismissed."

Kakashi left the Hokage Tower with a single minded determination to find Sasuke as quickly as possible. He wasn't sure which theory he believed to be true, but on the off chance that Itachi was really back in the village he didn't want to take any chances that he would get his hands on Sasuke.

It only took him twenty minutes to find Sasuke, though he was surprised that Sasuke seemed to be on a date. With Sakura. There went his theory of Sasuke and Naruto. He shook his head to clear it of the odd thoughts before focusing on the pair seated at an outdoor café.

Kakashi was almost loath to interrupt when he was handed an opportunity on a silver platter. Sakura had dropped her utensils and seemed to be irritated while Sasuke just looked like a man willing to jump at any escape. It was easy enough to saunter into his line of sight, and lean causally against the wrought iron fence that separated the café's patio from the sidewalk.

"Kakashi sensei, what are you doing here?"

Kakashi smiled his covered smile. "Looking for you actually. Out so late the night before the exams, tsk, tsk."

Sakura started and slapped an open palm against her forehead, "I forgot about the time…hopefully they're still open…" She muttered as she dug around in her bag before throwing a handful of money on the table, "That should cover me. Sorry to rush, but I've got one more errand to run before I can get home," she smiled over her shoulder at her teacher. "Thanks, Sensei," turning back to Sasuke she added, "I'll see you at the Academy tomorrow morning?"

She hardly waited for the confirmation before she was bidding them both a goodnight and disappearing.

Sasuke watched her retreating back before commenting, "That was odd."

Kakashi just shrugged, before focusing back on Sasuke. "I need to speak with you."

Complete disbelief marred Sasuke's features for a moment before they were washed clean. "How pressing a need?" He just received a look in return. He gestured towards Sakura's empty seat but Kakashi only shook his head.

"Not here."

Sasuke sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "My place isn't far from here. Will that do?"

Kakashi just smiled and Sasuke rolled his eyes in response, "Fine, let me just take care of the bill."

The streets were starting to clear as they made their way down the main road headed towards Sasuke's apartment. The humid air didn't release most of the heat of the day and Kakashi idly wondered if the clouds that hid the sky would actually produce rain tonight. He covertly studied the boy walking by his side, taking in the much more relaxed state Sasuke seemed to be in. For weeks Sasuke acted more a hunted animal than the predator he was in training to be. But now he moved more like a lithe cat in his own territory, confident in his dominance.

"So…" Kakashi broke the silence that descended since they left the café. "You and Sakura, huh?" He added a knowing look in the mix, hoping to throw Sasuke off a bit. If he was looking for sheepish embarrassment, he was greatly disappointed.

"Huh?" Head tilted, eyes cut to shoot Kakashi a glance before returning to the direction they were walking, Sasuke was genuinely confused.

Kakashi earlier assessment appeared to be wrong. But just to make sure, "You two seemed to be pretty cozy."

That at least got a reaction. Kakashi took a step passed where Sasuke had abruptly halted, turning so he could fully catch Sasuke's expression.

Utter repulsion. Interesting.

"What…we're not…how could…no." After a few stuttered starts, Sasuke firmly shook his head in the negative. "She is my teammate." Dark eyes flashed and Kakashi wondered at the intensity of Sasuke's denial.

"Not your type, hm?"

Sasuke blinked a few times before nodding and striding off again. "Right, not my type."

Kakashi felt a smirk curl his lips. No matter that the true reason for this meeting was a rather raw and touchy subject that he was dreading dredging up from the past, he still liked to rile his students up. He fell back in step with Sasuke before quipping, "I suppose blondes are more your type, hm?"

A heavy sigh lifted Sasuke's shoulders up before he turned his head so that he could shoot a rather impressive glare Kakashi's way. "Not sure why you're so interested in my sex life sensei, but it's starting to freak me out, so quit."

This time it was Kakashi slamming to a halt. 'Sex life?' he mouthed to himself before shaking any disturbing images out of his head before they could even take root.

Another glare found its mark when Sasuke turned to see why the hell Kakashi stopped. "Are you coming? I do have an exam tomorrow. I've heard it's kind of a big deal and all."

Sasuke's sarcastic tone pushed Kakashi back into motion. "Sorry, just had a disturbing thought."

"I'm sure I don't want to know."

Kakashi made a noise of affirmation low in his throat. Another glance at Sasuke's profile had him wondering if the boy was just merely playing with him but there was no sign that Sasuke had even realized that he had said something shocking.

For his sanity's sake, he was going to convince himself that Sasuke didn't mean anything by what he had said. He was twelve. Kakashi felt dirty just thinking sex and Sasuke in the same thought, though it didn't deter him from reading porn in front of him…

But the thought that that innocence had already been stripped from the child walking beside him twisted something in Kakashi's gut. He wasn't naïve enough to actually think Sasuke would make it far into his teens before losing most, if not all of his innocence in the ways of the world, but it was hard to remind himself that he'd already had blood on his hands by that age.

They raised child soldiers. He knew that and truthfully felt no recrimination at the thought. Perhaps less so than in the past, but in his lifetime it was not so uncommon for a shinobi to make his first kill before he hit double digits. And then the age restrictions were put in place and there were even those who wanted to raise it. He never really understood the argument.

Twelve was old enough to judge whether or not a graduate of the Academy would actually make it in the shinobi ranks. Civilians were under the misconception that graduation guaranteed you a spot on a squad, but the truth of the matter was out of the thirty or so graduates a year, they were lucky to get four, three man squads. It was the dividing line. You could only teach so much to the students who would end up going back to their civilian lives and you couldn't wait any later to start training the others what they really needed to know.

And truthfully, the clans didn't wait. Out of the three rookie teams that entered the exam this year, six genin were from a clan that taught their children early on. Seven, if you included Sasuke in that number. Add in Naruto who didn't know of his outstanding pedigree and the only true genin who had nothing beyond what was taught at the Academy was Sakura.

And there was surprise that the three teams were nominated for the Exams after such a short time?

Kakashi shook his head ruefully, causing another glance from Sasuke as they made their way up his apartment's steps. As they entered the apartment, a part of Kakashi's brain took in the layout and the general level of cleanliness while the other contemplated why, if he felt Sasuke was adult enough to kill, he still felt when it came to sex, Sasuke was still a child.

"Drink?" Sasuke asked, already opening a cabinet in the kitchen.

Shaking all other thoughts from his mind, Kakashi prepared for the conversation ahead. "No thanks." He sat down at the table and waited patiently for Sasuke to fill the glass in his hand with water from the sink before taking the seat opposite.

There is a moment when they stare at each other and Kakashi wishes that he could just ask the boy sitting across from him what's going on. But that's not how they play this game. And with a tilt of his head, Sasuke practically screams get on with it already.

"There was an attack."

A barely perceptive squeezing of his fingers on the glass is all the reaction Sasuke shows. "Naruto?"

Kakashi blinks then realizes that of course Sasuke would think it was Naruto. He was just with Sakura, and he's sitting across from Kakashi now. It's a little sad to think that there are only three people in this village that Sasuke has formed connections with.

"No, a chunin."

Sasuke blinks. "A chunin."

"Yes, but that's really not the important part." Kakashi winces slightly at brushing off the victim so callously but, "He's going to make a full recovery."

"That's…good."

Kakashi nods before taking a deep breath. He decides to say it quick, like a kunai across a throat, nearly painless. "He claims to have been attacked with the Sharingan."

Another slow blink and Kakashi can tell Sasuke isn't really sure how to respond to that, so he continues. "It's possible that he was attacked with a genjutsu that made him think he was attacked with the Sharigan…" He trails off as Sasuke swallows thickly. "Or…"

There is definite apprehension in Sasuke's face now and the hand holding his glass is tense. "Or?"

Kakashi wants to take it all back and erase the look in Sasuke's eyes. But this was something Sasuke needed to hear. If someone was intentionally projecting the Sharingan on random chunin, then he needed to know. If Itachi was really back in the village…

"Or Itachi might be back in the village."

The glass explodes in Sasuke's hand.

XXXX

AN- Yeah…so this chapter…really didn't want to be written. I blame Kakashi, he's always late and since I was in his head this entire chapter… :) Anybody buying that? Ah, well I did warn y'all. Reviews are love ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

There was a deafening white noise in Sasuke's head. Thoughts tried to break through but went skittering off as they failed to break the wall of shock. He wasn't cognizant of the time he spent floundering until one thought managed to squeeze through a crack and yell loud enough to be overheard.

Itachi is alive.

It was the crack that broke the dam, and Sasuke felt other thoughts flooding him as he tried to make sense of his swirling emotions. He loved and hated his brother in equal measure and the duality of his emotions was dizzying.

When the fox offered his chance, he had thought of all the people he wished were still among the living. From the ghosts that haunted him every night, to the children that were in the street as Kohona burned. He even thought of ones that he knew he would have to kill again, and the sick satisfaction that brought.

But he had never considered Itachi. Never once thought that he would be put back in the world and into Sasuke's life. Never once thought that he would have to make the decision, to kill or not? Because as much as he loved his brother, he hated him for putting his feet on this self-destructive path and then shoving. Every step, every stumble, every time he decided morality wasn't as important as revenge, it was his brother's guiding hand.

He couldn't deal with this. Taking all things Itachi related, he shoved the chaotic thoughts deep down into a box and slammed the lid. He had to get through the Exams, along with keeping Sakura and Naruto alive and in one piece. He'd deal with his brother after that.

He focused his eyes on the table that dominated his vision. Sometime in his panic attack, he had slid forward and laid his head against his curled left arm, his hand balled into a tight fist. His head tilted slowly as his gaze traveled down his right arm to stop at the elbow where sebon were sticking out of his skin like a parody of a porcupine. Unable to feel anything but mild curiosity when he realized that his right arm from the elbow down was paralyzed, his eyes made the last tired trek to take in Kakashi, who deft fingers were slowing picking at his bloodied and laid open palm. He had moved the chair to sit haphazardly at Sasuke's side, and there was a familiar white box open on the edge of the table.

He blinked slowly before pushing himself off the table. His movement caught Kakashi's attention and they locked gazes for a moment before Sasuke dropped his back to the sebon embedded in his skin.

"I needed you to unclench your fist." Kakashi explained the sebon and continued when Sasuke still appeared confused, "You shattered the glass in your hand, I needed to get the glass out."

"Oh." He felt fragile, as if a sudden jar would shatter what little sanity he had left. His hand was less than important to him at the moment, but he felt a well of gratitude that Kakashi would take care of it.

As he watched Kakashi tape a white bandage around his palm, he tried to pull his thoughts together, but they kept jumping around. Past, present, future, they all swirled together in a fractured timeline.

He couldn't feel Kakashi's touch, as he couldn't feel the hand Kakashi was working on so he had the sudden fear that this wasn't really Kakashi, merely his hallucination. That led to the thought that he wasn't really in the past, this was just an elaborate trick his brain was playing on him. It was merely letting him have a small slice of hope that he could fix it all.

Kakashi was watching him warily now, done with bandaging his hand. "Sasuke, what…"

But Sasuke didn't let him finish. He had to know. Had to know if it was all in his head, if he could do anything to make any of it better or if he should just give up completely. With a slightly trembling left hand, he reached across the space between them and poked Kakashi on the shoulder.

"Er…"

Sasuke wasn't paying attention. His head bowed, as smile tugged at his lips and a mantra of 'He's real, he's real, he's real' played over and over in his head.

Moving with slow and measured movements, Kakashi pulled the sebon from Sasuke's arm and began rubbing feeling back into it, all the while keeping a careful watch on his unbalanced student.

Sasuke flexed his fingers gently trying to dispel the pins and needles feeling faster, noting the mild discomfort in his hand. A small voice in the back of his mind muttered about injuring his hand right before the exams were due to start.

"I didn't mean to…" Kakashi seemed lost on what to say so Sasuke rushed to reassure him, worried about how far his mask had crumbled and not wanting Kakashi to start asking awkward questions.

"I needed to know." He took a deep breath and carefully pulled all the cracks back together. He couldn't afford to fall apart. As a ghost once told him, he neither had the time nor energy to dwell on this at the moment.

There was a heavy silence in which Kakashi seemed to start to speak several times before he settled on, "You don't need to carry this burden alone."

'Which burden?' Sasuke thought wryly. He chewed the inside of his cheek as he tried to figure out just what he was supposed to say. It was another thing he hadn't considered when he accepted the fox's offer. Kakashi already seemed suspicious of him, what could he say to alleviate that?

He settled with, "It's my burden." Noting the disappointment in Kakashi's lone eye, Sasuke averted his gaze to stare at the wall. Hissing in a breath between his teeth he relented with, "I know I'm not ready to face him yet. I won't go searching for him."

Risking a glance back at Kakashi, he was relieved to see the disappointment fade into something like content. If Sasuke had been a little more pulled together, he might've realized the look on Kakashi's face was more akin to pride.

"That is good to hear."

Sasuke shrugged as he pushed himself to his feet with his uninjured hand. Cradling his still odd feeling right arm to his chest he watched Kakashi clear the table off and repack the white first aid kit.

"I'm going to bed." Sasuke winced at the harsh dismissal tone but couldn't think of a politer way of kicking Kakashi out. He really didn't want to sound ungrateful, especially since Kakashi took care of his hand. And told him about his brother.

Kakashi's smirk was visible in the way his mask moved and in the spark in his eye. "Of course."

Sasuke watched with disbelief written all over his face as Kakashi got up from the table and made his way towards the door.

And then promptly collapsed on Sasuke's couch and pulled out his book.

Eye twitching, Sasuke glared at the mop of grey hair peeking over the armrest of the couch. As if he felt the hostile eyes on him, Kakashi leaned back until he was staring at Sasuke upside down, his book still held open over his chest.

'What?' his look said plainly.

'What are you doing?' Sasuke's glare demanded.

'You think I would leave you alone?' Kakashi's eyebrow lift and head tilt parried.

'But…but…' Sasuke's blinking clearly gave away the fact he couldn't think of an argument to counter.

Nodding once, Kakashi pulled himself back so that he was once again right side up and facing away from his fuming student. For his part, Sasuke stared at the back of his head for a few moments before slumping in defeat and turning to his own bedroom.

Before he crossed the threshold of his room and disappeared into the darkness, he paused and said softly, "Thank you, Sensei."

Sasuke didn't know if he was thanking Kakashi for telling him, for fixing his hand, or for staying.

AN – short chapter…but the next one should be longer, and the start of the Exams, finally. Reviews are love, and (hint, hint) inspiration to write faster :P


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ask anyone, and they would tell you the eyes of Team Gai must be Hyuga Neji. But while Neji did have a natural advantage, Tenten was the true eyes of the team.

And so, while Neji and Lee decided to try and intimidate one of the rookie teams, she stood back and watched and analyzed. On the surface, Team 7 seemed like any other fresh from the academy genin team. Two males, one female, still a bit overconfident and loudly dressed. She winced at the eyesore of Uzumaki's orange outfit in particular. The only thing in the room louder than it, was Uzumaki himself.

Haruno seemed flighty at first glance, but that could simply be misdirection. Tenten was constantly trying to get Neji to understand that just because a kunoichi acted like a fragile flower, it didn't mean she didn't have poisoned thorns. Although she did appear to be a bit overwhelmed by Lee's sudden attention. Tenten fought the smirk that tried to form at that thought.

Uchiha was a bit harder to get a read on. He brushed off Neji with hardly a backwards glance. Which could be arrogance or nerves about the upcoming exam, she couldn't be entirely sure. Neji didn't seem to like him, but Neji didn't seem to like most anybody so there was that to consider as well.

But then Lee had to go and challenge the Uchiha to a fight. She watched from the balcony and cringed, hoping Neji might intervene but it didn't seem likely from the way he was casually leaning on the railing next to her. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in Lee's abilities, but this was the Chunin Exams, not some pissing contest with egos being thrown around.

Well…okay it was. But that didn't mean Lee should be trying to get into a fight before the Exam even started.

Lee was in the middle of his speech on why he wanted to fight, when Uchiha interrupted. "No."

"Wha-" Lee started to say but Uchiha turned his back on him before he got the entire word out.

"Are you frightened Uchiha?" Tenten fought the strong urge to kick Neji.

Uchiha stopped and half turned, shooting the balcony an indifferent stare. He opened his mouth to respond when Uzumaki beat him to it.

With flashing blue eyes and a teeth baring grin he bounded to stand between Uchiha and Lee. "If you're friend wants to get his ass beat so bad, I don't mind helping him out!"

Like a shot, Uchiha's hand reached out and grabbed the back of Uzumaki's coat, yanking the other boy off balance and pulling him back.

"You promised." The words were soft, with no inflection whatsoever. Uzumaki craned his neck around, his brows furrowed into a pout.

"But…but the exams haven't started yet!"

A coolly raised eyebrow was Uchiha's answer to that, and Uzumaki slumped in defeat.

"Fine, fine, fine. Le'me go, will ya?"

A cleared throat had every gaze switch from the disgruntled blonde who was straightening out his jacket to a suddenly apprehensive Haruno. Tenten didn't even fight the smirk as the stuttering girl let out a quiet "Eep!" as Lee's attention riveted on her once again.

Haruno took a step sideways to place her closer to her teammates and Tenten was surprised to see Uchiha echo her move in mirror, while also taking a slight step forward as to place himself between Haruno and Lee.

There was only a slight stutter left in Haruno's voice, "We're going to be late."

"Meh, they'll wait for us!" Uzumaki's confident grin faded as he caught Uchiha's glare. "Alright, alright. Geeze, Bastard, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?" With that, he rolled his eyes and turned to walk out of the hall behind his teammates. An absentminded wave behind his head and a call of "Later, Funny Brows," was all the goodbye Team 7 offered them.

Tenten felt the air push her bangs off of her face as she jumped the short distance from the balcony to floor to stand beside Lee. She noted the motion of Neji landing beside her as she watched the last of Uzumaki's orange fade around the corner.

"What do you think?"

She cocked an eyebrow at the fact that Neji actually asked rather than wait for her assessment before answering, "Arrogant…and quite possibly trouble."

XXXX

Temari was on edge.

This wasn't that surprising given her teammates. And the fact that she was currently in a crowded room full of also quite on edge hopeful chunins. And that she was an important cog in back stabbing invasion where she had to keep an unstable weapon focused on their goal.

Temari predicted she would be entirely grey long before her eighteenth birthday.

Although, not everyone in the room seemed to be so nervous over the upcoming exams. Her eyes strayed to the laughing group standing just inside the door. She knew they were calling them the rookie nine. Nine Leaf Genin pretty much straight from the academy. A joke, is what most of the rumors floating around seemed to be implying. How could genin, with mission lists shorter than their little fingers, hope to compete in the Chunin Exams?

But Temari wasn't so sure. There were seven representatives of the great clans of Kohona standing around as if they were at a party rather than waiting for an exam to start.

In one team there was the Hyuga heiress, a member of the Aburame clan and the second child of Inuzuka Tsume, a woman who's name alone struck fear in the hearts of many a male shinobi.

On another there was the famous Ino–Shika–Chō Trio. A team that not only had the teachings of three clans to back them up, also had the advantage of generation's worth of knowledge on how to work as a seamless team.

The last team was a bit odd, she had to admit. Why Kohona placed two unknowns on the same team as the Uchiha, she didn't know. She recognized the brats as the ones they ran into when Kankuro was terrorizing the little pipsqueak that ran into him. The little pipsqueak that turned out to be the Hokage's grandson.

Temari rubbed her forehead in an attempt to stave off a headache.

She looked up again when someone new approached the group and mocked their loud behavior. She tilted her head in interest as the grey haired teen lectured them on the importance of the Exam and then went on to explain the peace-loving-lets-all-be-friends aspect of the multi-village exam.

She almost snorted at that.

Gaara's eyes flickered in her direction and she quickly schooled her features back into impassiveness. As she returned to observing her surroundings she noticed the odd way the Uchiha was standing. He wasn't really paying attention to the teen in front of him, who was now on to some odd stats about the different villages, but seemed intent on being between him and his team. And his dark eyes kept roaming the crowded hall, as if he was looking for something.

She felt a stab of irritation in her gut as the grey haired idiot started spouting off about the Sound village and predictably pissed off the Sound nin standing behind and to the right her. She felt the irritation spread like an itch under her skin as they shifted in agitation.

And then there was movement.

Kankuro shifted and Gaara's hand came up to still his movement in an unspoken command to not interfere. She tilted her head so that she could watch the Sound nin's progress. She wasn't the only one.

Uchiha's eyes were no longer roaming. Even though his stance never changed, his gaze was now locked on the moving nin. She watched in tense anticipation as the Sound nin moved in on his target, the oblivious idiot still not recognizing his current peril.

The nin was almost upon him, the teen's eyes widening as he reacted to the threat, when Uchiha moved.

Moved might not even be the right word. More like flickered.

Temari's eyes blinked rapidly as she took in the new tableau spread before her. The Sound nin was now sprawled across the floor in an ungainly heap, the grey haired idiot was gaping at both him and the Uchiha, and the Uchiha…

Well, if Temari hadn't known that seconds ago he had been standing between his teammates and the idiot and now he was between the Sound nin and the idiot, she wouldn't have noticed he had moved.

"He's fast," Kankuro murmured and Temari felt herself nodding in agreement.

There was a moment where hands strayed towards weapons and muscles tensed in anticipation, but it was broken as the doors at the front of the room flew open. Bodies moved as interest in the back of the room shifted to the front.

Temari kept one eye locked on the scene breaking up in the back of the room while turning so she could see who entered at the front. He was massive and scarred and most likely their Exam Proctor.

Her theory was proved correct when he called them all to attention and instructed them to line up in an orderly fashion so they could, "Get this damn thing started."

Xxx

There were twenty-three people standing between him and an Orochimaru wearing a Grass nin's face.

He had worried, briefly, that he wouldn't recognize whoever's face Orochimaru chose to steal. It had been years in his mind since the last time he stood in this group of hopeful chunins and waited to be let into the Forest of Death. Most of what he remembered were snapshots of pain and rage and fear.

But there was no mistaking that cloying, rancid taste in the back of his throat that he attributed solely to the snake who was now practically flirting with an oblivious Anko. And how she didn't realize who he was, Sasuke didn't know. Though it might have something to do with him never trying to climb inside her skin and set up house.

Lucky her.

Sasuke wanted Orochimaru dead. If, for nothing else, just to get the taste out of the back of his throat and to get his skin to stop crawling. And he could kill him. With his new jutsu and a decent element of surprise he could sneak away from Naruto and Sakura in the forest and take out Orochimaru.

But that would leave Naruto and Sakura alone. Alone in a forest with enemy nin, large predators, and creepy crawlies of various sizes.

That was not an option.

So he wouldn't be going after Orochimaru in the forest. Actually his plan ran more along the lines of avoiding the man altogether if he could manage it. Get in, get a scroll, get to the tower. And keep everyone in one piece all the way through.

He caught a flash of grey through the milling crowd as the teams prepared to enter the forest. His eyes flashed to Kabuto before focusing back to Naruto who was pushing him towards their gate.

There was more than one way to skin a snake. And better to skin the snake after the snake ate the rat.

AN – I have excuses, none of them good :) I'll try to update faster, promise.


	10. Chapter 10

AN – 2012 has been a crappy year so far. Family emergencies and various other bits of bad luck, mean that I've hardly had time to write nor the mental capacity when I did have time. Things have gotten better (crosses fingers, throws salt and knocks on wood, cause I ain't taking any chances) so next update should be quicker in coming…hopefully.

Chapter 10

Someone once said, if you can explain a plan in ten words or less it will go FUBAR in ten minutes or less.

Sasuke had really wished he'd remembered that before entering the Forest of Death. He also wished he'd remembered that Naruto at this age was frustratingly obnoxious and followed orders about as well as a wet housecat.

The plan to target a weak team to get a scroll and then head to the tower was hardly out of his mouth before Naruto was barreling through the trees and right into the midst of a Cloud team.

It took half his stolen chakra and some quick thinking to get them out of there in one piece.

The next failure on his part was when he put Sakura in charge of keeping Naruto concealed and quiet while he circled around what he thought would be an easy pick. And it would have been easy if Naruto hadn't gotten impatient or if Sakura had put her foot down and kept Naruto still.

And at the end of that mess, it wasn't even the scroll they needed.

Wiping blood off his face as Sakura stood there twisting her hands together and cringing he decided on a new plan. They would head for the tower, lie in wait, and grab a scroll off a team coming in.

That plan lasted a whole hour.

XXX

Karai stared at the monitor in abject boredom. Pissing off her captain had not been worth this mindless observation mission. Yes, sure, she was compiling information on all the genin teams which was useful to Kohona, but she'd kill to be out of this dark and stuffy room with its wall of flickering screens. Her finger clicked the button to change the view on the central screen with a rhythmic clacking. Trees. Trees. Giant centipede. Trees. Trees. Ooh, pretty kitty. Trees. Whoa, that's a big snake. Gulped up that kid like grape. Poor kid.

"Hey, Inou, check this out." She checked that everything was recording correctly before focusing back on the screen.

Inou forced his way into her personal space, and she huffed in annoyance. "Inou, your hair is getting in my face."

"Sorry, sorry," Inou flipped the offending hair back behind his shoulder before leaning in again. "What was so interesting?"

"We've got a possible skirmish in section," She paused and glanced at the corner of the screen, "16D."

"Combatants?" Inou leaned in even further and Karai elbowed him out of the way. She got a glare in response that she promptly ignored.

"Well, there was one kid, who got taken out by a giant snake, but his teammates seem to still be there. Is that the Uchiha?"

"Maybe. Is there a better angle than this? This view sucks," Inou grumbled.

"Yes, I just like going cross-eyed," She deadpanned before running a finger along the map tacked to the table in front of her. "The only other camera in this section is…this one." A large black X crossed through the mark on the map "which is obstructed by a fallen branch."

"Of course it is." Inou rolled his eyes before squinting at the screen again. "That is the Uchiha, which means that must be Team 7. But who are they up against?"

"I don't kno – Ouch, that had to hurt." She winced in sympathy as the girl went flying face first into tree trunk. "Wait, that means…" She traced another line along the map before flipped quickly through channels on a screen next to the one Inou was still eye-balling. "Where is it, where is it…"

"What are you looking for? Man that kid is fast!"

"You remember when I said a snake took out one of them already?" She finally stopped on a channel when the screen filled with the image of a large snake.

"Yeah, so?" Inou spared a moment's glance towards the screen Karai was now staring at before going back to the fight that was happening on the central screen.

"Did you forget who was on the team with the Uchiha? Who is currently being digested by a big ass snake?" The slight edge to her voice caught Inou's attention.

There was a pause before the light obviously went off in his head, "Oh, hell."

"Hm," she agreed. "What the hell?" They watched in shock as the snake expanded outwards steadily until bursting with hundreds of blonde, orange clad genin covered in snake guts. "Uck."

"Well that was…"

"…Rather ingenious." She concentrated back on the central screen, wincing as the Uchiha took a hit to the face that propelled him into a tree. The girl was crouched behind a large root, barely visible due to the horrible angle the camera offered. "Doubt it will matter too much. Damn if Team 7 dies out there…who is that genin? And where are the rest of -his? Or is it a her?- team?"

XXX

To say things weren't going as planned would be like saying Naruto was a little bit rambunctious. Sasuke peeled himself off the tree and glared at the openly grinning Orochimaru. He didn't have a hope in hell at beating the maniac and he wanted to scream in frustration. But he didn't. Instead he took the three seconds Orochimaru gave him to regroup before jumping back into the fray. He had half hoped, when she disappeared from his line of sight, that Sakura had actually listened and ran for it, but he could feel her tightly coiled charka and sour fear pulsing to his left.

He ignored the pain in his left hip that shot down to his toes with every movement and the exhaustion that was slowly zapping his speed and reflexes. He had to keep Orochimaru at a distance, but that was becoming harder and harder to do. To top it off, the damn bastard would not shut up.

"Impressive speed, but you seem to be slowing down. Have you shown me your best already? Rather pathetic, really."

He'd forgotten how annoying it was to fight the snake. He threw what was left of his kunai, attempting to pin him to the tree he was wrapped around, but only three hit their mark. Truthfully it was only a minor distraction, but he was rapidly running out of ideas.

Well that wasn't entirely true, but he didn't think he had the charka left to pull out his reserve guns. Just keeping the Sharingan activated was taxing. His stolen charka was long gone and he was cursing this body's normal charka stores.

That's when he felt a familiar charka headed their way. He didn't even wait for Naruto to come to a complete stop before yelling, "Grab Sakura and run!"

He really should've just saved his breath.

But at least as Orochimaru turned his focus on the newcomer, he could catch his breath.

"Hey! Was that your snake? Cause I kinda shredded it, hope you weren't real attached or nothing."

Orochimaru cocked his head to the side and grinned wider. "Don't worry, he's perfectly fine." The silver lining, Sasuke decided as he watched Orochimaru summon, was that it wasn't Manda.

XXX

"Did he just summon a snake?"

"Yup"

"A really big snake? A really big snake that would take a hell of a lot of charka to pull off?"

"Yup."

"You don't think…"

"Nah, what are the odds?"

There was a long pause before, "You know, I think I'm gonna call this in…just in case."

XXX

Sakura felt like every muscle in her body was pulled taunt and she could practically feel her nerves vibrating with tension. She was pressed flat against the large root she had taken shelter behind, head craned back and to the side to take in the nightmare laid out before her.

Sasuke was twenty feet to her right, favoring his left side and red eyes spinning in agitation and locked on the fight between Naruto and the really big snake.

She felt helpless and scared shitless and damnit to hell if she wasn't the weak link on this team. She ran and hid when Sasuke told her to run. She was watching them fight, and might possibly be watching them die soon. And so why the hell wasn't she doing something?

She wasn't naïve enough to think she could actually beat the snake or its master, but crouching in the shadows was doing nothing and doing nothing was not something a ninja should be doing when her team was in mortal danger.

If she had no hope of a frontal attack actually working, she had to think sneakier and dirtier. Ever so slowly she started to edge down the length of the root she was pressed against. If she could get behind the nin and somehow distract him for long enough maybe one of the others could get close enough to do some real damage.

Swallowing the sick feeling that tried to crawl its way out of her throat she stopped when she felt she was in a decent enough position. The nin was currently standing on a branch watching Naruto and the snake bounce off each other. Sasuke was across and now to her left, wheels turning behind moving eyes obviously trying to think up a plan to get them out of this mess. Palming a kunai in each hand she caught Sasuke's eye and jerked her chin towards the back of the nin's head.

She was already moving when she caught Sasuke's wide eyed head shake and forward stumble. She couldn't stop though. She threw the kunai and brought her hands together to start a series of seals. But the nin simply flowed around the kunai and was headed towards her with lightning speed.

Then there was the thud of Sasuke slamming into the nin, knocking him off course. The glint of the blade that missed its intended target but still caught cloth and flesh. The white hot pain that that caused her knees to buckle and fail as she tried to land on the branch. The taste of dirt and bark that filled her mouth as she failed to get her arms underneath her. The oppressive force of rage and deadly intent that pushed her down even further and sucked the breath from her lungs.

Yelling vibrated the air around her but she couldn't concentrate enough to catch the words. A voice in the back of her head was screaming at her to get up, to move, to do something but just lay there waiting to be finished off. But before she could, a shadow blocked her line of sight and deft fingers were probing at her side.

She hissed in pain and arched her back but a calm voice kept up a soothing monotone and then there was cloth being pressed tight to her side and a shirtless Sasuke telling her to hold it tight and not move.

She blinked and wondered if the blood loss was causing her to hallucinate, and if it was, she should get stabbed more often because a shirtless Sasuke was worth a bit of pain. But then he was gone and she realized his missing shirt was what she was using as a makeshift bandage.

Fighting the rising bile, she screwed her eyes shut and wished that just once she could have been useful.


	11. Chapter 11

AN- A huge, ginormous THANK YOU to everyone that reviewed! Seriously, lots of warm and fuzzies and motivation to keep working on this.

Chapter 11

Sasuke's brain was somewhere in the past. Or maybe the future. He had Sakura's blood on his hands, again. Or for the first time. He couldn't get his mind's eye to decide if Sakura's hair was long or short when he left her lying there. If the look on her face had been the shocked look of betrayal or the awed look of the recently rescued.

What he really wanted to do was curl up into a little ball and scream until his voice was gone, but he didn't have the time. The fox's charka was pressing down on him from all sides and if he didn't do something soon, bad things were going to happen. Very bad things.

Naruto was trying to get at Orochimaru but the snake kept intercepting. There was little to no reason behind Naruto's lunges, lips pulled back over elongated teeth and eyes a feral red he simply kept coming and coming, not caring at all when a strike from the snake crushed him into a tree trunk. Naruto sunk two kunai into the snake's head and vaulted over it and towards Orochimaru.

Sasuke saw the exact moment Orochimaru figured out what Naruto was. It was the look of a puzzle piece clicking into place and Sasuke was moving before he even knew what he was going to do once he got there. He managed to get between them and a hand on Orochimaru's wrist moments before Orochimaru's hand was going to come in contact with Naruto.

Time seemed to slow as Sasuke yanked down hard on Orochimaru's wrist. Naruto overshot his mark and flew past them, Orochimaru turned his slit eyes to consider Sasuke bemusedly, and Sasuke's stomach tried to crawl out of his throat.

Bemusement morphed into glee and before Sasuke could do more than gasp, long thin fangs were headed in his direction.

Pain. Fire. Failure. No. Agony. Defeat. Weak. Worthless. No. Shackled. Marked. No. No. Owned. NEVER.

He was moving on instinct and a pure primal need to get away and working with the knowledge that he had no more charka to burn, otherwise he would have never even considered using that jutsu. Fingers flashed through signs before slamming into Orochimaru's chest, pushing and pulling simultaneously.

The first, and only, time he used this jutsu he had been calm and cautious, pulling gently at the other man's charka system and funneling it carefully into his own. This time he was neither calm nor cautious and didn't funnel so much as opened the floodgates wide.

He'd been on the wrong end of a few water jutsu's that had enough force to peel layers of skin off. This was like swallowing one of those. That offhand comment of exploding was echoing in his head.

Time slowed to snapshots of senses. The burning fire in his veins. The snap as his eyesight shifted to the too familiar starkness and then past that even, slamming through the mental doors Itachi so helpfully opened in another lifetime. The screams of the wind that echoed in his skull, shifted to the wails of the dying that haunted his sleeping hours.

He could feel the charka pushing and stretching, looking for an escape beyond what was already rolling off him in waves of black and blue clouds. He had to get rid of it before it tore him to pieces. His mind couldn't focus beyond getting it out of him. He threw his head back and screamed, forcing the foreign charka out, his hands splayed wide and held above his head.

He felt the pressure ease as the noise increased. Could taste the coppery tang of blood in his mouth. His hands and arms were on fire but he didn't stop until it was nearly all gone.

The silence was sudden enough to make him start as if he'd been hit with an electric current. His eyes were spinning and recording and sending messages to a brain that wasn't quite ready to receive them. He took a shuddering breath and added ash and ozone to the blood that still coated his tongue.

Slowly, so very slowly, his brain started to grasp at the information flooding it. The waves of charka had dispersed and the looming forms around him morphed into blackened and scarred tree trunks. Another breath brought the smell of burnt flesh to his attention and he stared in abstract fascination at his burnt and bleeding arms.

"Magnificent."

The sound had him jerking his head up. Orochimaru stood, braced against a blackened trunk, fingers buried to the knuckle in crumbling bark, just a half dozen yards from him. Rage boiled up within him like a black tar nearly choking the air from his lungs.

He wanted to kill him.

Wanted nothing more than to watch the bright red blood run down pale skin until there was nothing left inside.

A small, quiet voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he couldn't. He needed Orochimaru alive for the moment, and more pressing, he didn't have the means to kill him now.

"Simply beautiful." Orochimaru basked in the rage rolling off Sasuke, his eyes nearly glittering in the gloom of the forest. "I'll be seeing you soon, Sasuke." With that he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke stared at where Orochimaru was for a few moments, his rage slowly ebbing away as the pain started to make itself known.

"Sasuke?" The voice was hesitant, and slightly distorted, which Sasuke realized was due to the fangs still present in Naruto's mouth.

He turned achingly slowly, still inventorying injuries, towards Naruto. He was standing behind an upraised root, Sakura clutched to his chest in his arms. Sasuke felt his breath hitch at her apparent lifelessness, but then he caught the steady rise and fall of her chest and felt something ease slightly within him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto tried again a little more forcibly. Sasuke tore his eyes away from Sakura and focused more on Naruto. His eyes were more purple than blue, but they weren't the glowing red of the demon any more. "Your eyes…"

Sasuke wanted to repeat the words back at him but swallowed the urge. He closed his eyes briefly and when he reopened them the world he looked out on had lost its sharp edges and auras.

He took another deep breath full of ash and blood before answering, "We need to move."

XXX

Two awestruck pairs of eyes stared at a screen that showed nothing more than static.

"Fuck."

XXX

There was a deep and aching pain in Sasuke's chest. Which may have been due to the fact that Sakura was wrist deep in it, a contemplative look on her face as she pulled out a wad of tangled red string.

"This is going to take me days to straighten out." She shot him a half- hearted glare over the tangled mess in her hands as she started picking it apart. Firelight played against her pale skin and her brow wrinkled slightly as she concentrated.

"Why don'tcha just cut it?" Sasuke turned his head so that he could see Karin. She was seated cross-legged with a large sword balanced across her knees, painting designs on it in bright red ink. "And then just tie the pieces back together?"

Sakura scoffed. "Because it's not Gordian's knot."

There was a chuckle that had Sasuke swinging his head the other way. Juugo was hiding behind a familiar orange book but peeked over it when he realized they were staring at him. "What?"

Sasuke could practically hear Karin's eyes rolling in her head. "Why are you reading that trash anyway?"

"It's not trash. It's literature."

Sasuke just blinked in confusion as they argued over whether or not a book that included the phrase 'her heaving womanly mounds' twenty seven times could be considered literature or not.

"Just let him be," Sakura interjected softly, causing Juugo to hide back behind his book and Karin to cringe with what looked like shame.

"What…" But Sasuke didn't even really know how to finish the question.

A particularly sharp tug had Sasuke wincing and Sakura shooting him an apologetic glance before answering his half asked question.

"He's been handed a rather crappy hand this time around, if he wants to read," there was a pause, "those books, I say what's the harm?"

"This time around?" Sasuke repeated before a scream of pain jerked his attention away. He stared around them but the scream didn't seem to have originated from anywhere he could see.

A soft sigh had Sasuke focusing on Sakura once again. She stared sadly at him and then at the tangled string still in her hand. "I guess you have to go. Oh well, back this goes." She shoved the string back in his chest and then pushed the skin back together and watched it mend.

Sasuke wanted to ask where he was going, why he was going, what the hell was with the string, and what she meant by 'this time around' but the scene was already fading around him.

He blinked and it was gone completely. Instead he was staring at the inside of a hollowed out tree, his head pillowed on a bright orange and tattered jacket. The thudding sounds of skin hitting skin and the grunts of pain echoed oddly from outside and the when, where, and whys were starting to make a little more sense in his head.

He pushed up into a sitting position, pausing briefly as pain sparked white stars behind his eyes. Eventually he made it to his feet and then to the opening in the tree where he poked his head out to figure out what the hell was going wrong now.


	12. Chapter 12

There once was a little girl with pretty pink hair who lived in a little yellow house with a mother who baked the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.

One day, when she was just big enough to walk by her mother's side, her small fingers wrapped in the fabric of the long skirts her mother always wore, a big scary man jumped out of the shadows and slammed into her mother, sending the little girl flying.

As fear gripped the little girl tightly and twisted her face in a mask of sobs, the man grabbed her mother with hands that looked that claws and dragged her into the shadows.

But before she could pull a full lungful of air in to scream, a figure descended from the sky, all sinewy limbs and bright silver.

A crack and a scream and then there was her mother, scooping up the little girl in a cocoon of warmth and safety and home. The little girl tucked her head under her mother's chin and clung with all that was in her tiny body.

There were voices talking like smoke drifting over her head until she worked up the nerve to peek out from behind the safety of her mother's profile. The figure that had saved her, saved her mother, was standing close, a cautious smile on her lips, her voice a soothing monotone.

Eyes opened wide, the little girl asked, in the unabashed way of children, "What are you?"

Bright teeth flashed into a smile as she tossed her bright red hair back behind her and answered, "I'm a kunoichi."

XXX

Sakura wouldn't let the pain show on her face beyond a slight tightening around her mouth. Her side was a throbbing hindrance, not allowing her to stand fully without ripping the wound open but she was still standing. Still standing between the enemy and where her teammate lay injured and unconscious,

She still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. She had woken to Naruto's startled yelp, finding herself clutched to his chest with one arm as Naruto tried to catch Sasuke as he collapsed. Trying to get the story from Naruto was like trying to put a puzzle together with only half the pieces and no picture to give hints.

There had been an explosion…or at least that's how Naruto explained Sasuke's arms. The Grass Nin had disappeared after the explosion…apparently just giving up? But she wasn't going to question the good fortune of lack of an enemy while her side was on fire and Sasuke was a pale and bloody mess half collapsed on the forest floor.

Hell, they had barely found a place to lay Sasuke flat for a few hours before new enemies showed up to take the old one's place, anyway. She guessed she should be thankful enough that they waited till the sun was up before making their attack.

She stared grimly at the girl squared off in front of her. Sakura only had a lone kunai left and was already dizzy from blood loss and pain but the girl looked fresh and uninjured.

"You are such a sorry excuse…you know? This is why women don't get as much respect as men in the shinobi world. I mean…PINK?"

And the bitch would not freaking shut up.

As Sakura tried to think up a plan of action and block out Naruto's fight with the other two nin, the girl continued, apparently in love with the sound of her own voice,

"Really, it's a mercy to kill you. What do you think this is, dress up? Tell you what…If you hold still I'll do it quick and neat. No need to send your parents a ripped up corpse to cry over. Can't say you'll get the same offer from anyone else."

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch in irritation but then the other girl's attention was pulled to something behind Sakura, the slight distraction an opening Sakura was not willing to squander. She darted forward, ignoring the fire that ripped her side open as she extended her arm.

The distraction wasn't going to be enough. Sakura was back on the defensive seconds after her initial lunge, barely blocking one out of every three blows, her lip split open by the other girl's knuckles. Sakura was just thanking whatever god that would listen that she was sticking with hand to hand rather than backing off and finishing her with a well-placed jutsu.

A scream of pain overlaid with a loud grisly crack pulled the other girl's attention away from their fight once again. This time, Sakura was in a position to strike. She barely had to change her hand's trajectory to slam it into the other girl's exposed throat. Without slowing Sakura kicked the now gagging girl's legs out from under her and slammed her face first into the ground.

Threat neutralized, Sakura looked up to see what had caused her life saving distraction. She was glad she was already crouched on the ground, her stomach rolling at the tableau spread before her.

Sasuke looked as if he had bathed in blood, the entire top half of his body smeared red. The nin he had be fighting was face down in the dirt, Sasuke's foot between his shoulder blades and his wrist caught in Sasuke's fist, pulling his shoulder up and back and very clearly broken.

Sasuke spared no glance to the twitching and writhing body beneath his foot, eyes already focused on the last enemy. Sakura just stared in awe as Sasuke and Naruto attacked simultaneously, flowing around each other effortlessly. When it was two nin against Naruto, he'd been holding his own, but gaining no ground. Now that the tables had been turned, it only took a few moments for Naruto to catch the enemy's arms and wrench them behind his back before Sasuke sliced a kunai across the nin's throat, adding more blood to Sasuke's wardrobe.

There was a moment where everything was frozen. Naruto, with a look of horror etched into his face, held the now dead and limp body by the elbows. Sasuke, arm still extended from the lethal blow, was balanced on one foot. Sakura, still crouched in the dirt, clutched her injured side.

And then time flowed again. Naruto dropped the dead body and skittered backwards as Sasuke collapsed in a heap. Sakura forced her body forward in jerky movements never quite making it to her feet. She was an arm length away from Sasuke's prone body when Naruto found his voice.

"You killed him."

She stopped moving, half thinking Naruto was referencing Sasuke, but then Sasuke rolled up into a sitting position, the blood and mud not quite hiding the exasperation on his face.

"Well…yes."

"You killed him." Disbelief was quickly morphing into anger as Naruto realized the utter indifference Sasuke felt about the matter.

Sasuke scrubbed at his face with his hand, in reality just smearing the mess on his face around, before answering. "I killed him."

The quiet admission sparked the slowly burning anger and Naruto leaned forward and yelled, "WHY? There was no reason…you didn't have to…you KILLED HIM. And you don't even CARE?"

Sakura felt like she should intervene, should say something, do something, to head off the coming fight. They were all exhausted, blood covered, and still in the middle of a deadly forest. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, when the look on Sasuke's face froze the words in her throat.

She'd never been afraid of Sasuke. Awed by him, intimidated sure, but this feeling that froze her in place was more akin to primal fear than any kind fear born of respect. He looked feral, lips pulled back over teeth, eyes blood red and spinning, half crouched as if poised to spring at the slightest provocation.

"Would you rather I let him slit your throat? Or Sakura's? Am I supposed to regret the blood on my hands when it means I get to live another day? We're Shinobi. Death is our job." The words were hissed through clenched teeth.

Naruto didn't completely back down, but some of the anger left his face as he tilted his head and considered Sasuke. "Protection is our job. We protect our clients, our village, our teammates." A thoughtful look crossed his face before he continued, "And sometimes, as a last resort, we have to kill in order to do our job. But it should be a last resort. We could have stopped him…"

Sasuke released a harsh breath and relaxed back on his haunches, his face losing its snarl and his eyes returning to black. A half smile curved Sasuke's lips as he regarded Naruto with an unreadable expression.

"No, Naruto. Mercy is just a luxury for the strong and a liability for the weak."

XXX

Exhausted wasn't even close to describing how Sasuke felt. He had to fight the very tempting urge to lay his head down beside the small stream they had found and never get up again. He was supposed to be washing the blood off. Like a little water was going to wash the blood off his hands.

Naruto was helping Sakura bandage her side. The argument over whether or not they should take supplies from the defeated Sound team was short lived when Sasuke pointed out that his shirt wasn't really going to cut it as a bandage for Sakura.

Guilt gnawed at him. It was an oversight he couldn't believe he missed. For years he hadn't had to worry about medical supplies not being carried by someone on his team, usually someone other than him. And then he lost his team and a med kit was just another something tucked in another scroll hidden in the bottom of his knapsack as he trekked across the countries.

When he was on Team 7, the first time around, Kakashi carried the med kit. He'd be the one who would look over anything more than a scratch and would take care of any injury that a simple bandage couldn't cover.

"It's odd, don't you think?"

Sasuke very carefully did not react to the voice that came from the branch across the small stream. He didn't know why she was there, with the sun still high in the sky, but he knew that the last thing his team needed was him talking to people that weren't really there.

That didn't stop Sakura, short hair swinging as she flipped to hang upside down under the branch, from smiling at him and continuing as if he'd answered her. "I mean, you'd think they'd send us on some milk run mission by ourselves before throwing us to the Exams without a Jounin to back us up. Though I suppose this Exam is a little more—"she frowned as she searched for a word, "—more extreme than normal."

She flipped back right side up and crossed her legs primly underneath her on the branch. "She's alive, you know. Naruto as well. And hey! No curse seal! That's a good thing."

Sasuke risked one quick, hard glare at her. She just smiled wider.

"Save that energy, you still have a scroll to get."

Sasuke wondered how hard it would be to drown himself in two inches of water.

AN- this chapter was a pain to write, sorry it took so long. Hopefully the next won't be so bad :P


	13. Chapter 13

AN- Sorry this chapter took so long…Thanks for all the reviews! Just a heads up, the first section contains implied consensual sex between adults…

Chapter 13

Kakashi wondered if the jolt of caffeine would be worth choking down the black sludge they considered coffee. He'd been awake and alert for over 48 hours now and his body was demanding some sort of stimulant or it was going to start lagging. He poured the end of the pot into a cup, making a face even if no one could see it due to the mask, and made his way back to the Hokage's office.

It was much the same as he had left it. An undercurrent of tension ran through the room, apparent in every tense move and grim face. Not only had one of the most infamous missing-nins made his way into the village undetected, nobody could tell if he was still here or had left. An ANBU captain, with a striking bird mask, was currently giving a report to the Hokage and Kakashi could tell simply by the Hokage's face that it was not great news.

He veered left towards the bank of monitors set up against the wall, live feeds from the forest showing on most screens while the center screen was a still shot seconds before that particular feed went dead.

It wasn't a great picture, a bit fuzzy and lopsided. And the scene it depicted was enough to twist his stomach in disgust. Orochimaru's back was to the camera, his mouth clamped down on Sasuke's neck. Sasuke's head was thrown back with a look of pain clear on his face, his eyes a bright red, the Sharigan obvious even as chakra clouds swirled around the two.

Next to that screen was another still, this one time stamped sixteen hours after the last and was the first hint that Team 7 made it out of the explosion that took out the camera. It was one of the longest sixteen hours Kakashi had spent feeling useless in quite a while. The picture on the screen only showed half of Sasuke, his visible arm looking damaged and he was now wearing Naruto's black shirt, the back of Naruto, who seemed unhurt, and what had to be Sakura's sandaled foot. Kakashi would have been happy to see more of her, but she never moved into frame in the twenty one minutes they stayed by the stream.

That was almost twelve hours ago.

And it was proving to be just as aggravating as the sixteen before it. The Hokage refused to interrupt the Exams or give any hint to the visiting villages that something was amiss. Kakashi just wanted to tear the forest apart to look for his kids.

Tired of staring at the screens, he cast about for another distraction and his eyes caught on Anko, who was leaning against one of the empty desks, its occupant either busy elsewhere or frightened enough by Anko to pretend.

She didn't look well, her skin pale and bandages peeking out from beneath her coat. She was also coiled tight, nearly vibrating in place. Not to mention as soon as he was in reach, she practically took his hand off to get to his coffee.

"Coffee." She practically moaned the word, while Kakashi mock glared at her for her thieving,

"It may be coffee, or it may be used oil masquerading as coffee." He let the thought of a caffeinated Anko flit through his mind before deciding he would just deny any involvement should the need arise. He also dismissed any thought of getting to actually drink any of his coffee as she downed the last few drops and then proceeded to roll the cup back and forth in her hands while she glared at it rather impressively.

They sat in tense silence as shinobi of various rank scurried in and out of the office, never seeming to actually have any new information. Kakashi could feel Anko winding tighter and tighter next to him and was unsurprised when she slammed the cup she'd been fiddling with on the desk behind her and turned to him.

"Want to get out of here for a while?"

He blinked, let his gaze flit to the ANBU standing guard beside the door and then back to her.

Anko caught his meaning and shrugged one shoulder. "We don't have to leave the tower."

He leered at her which caused the corner of her lips to tip up. "Kinky."

She reached out and he let her catch his wrist and then followed along as she pulled him from the room. Nobody protested their departure, so Kakashi figured they wouldn't find resistance unless they tried to leave the Tower. The Hokage didn't exactly trust them not to go tearing off and do something stupid.

She continued to drag him down the hall, until they came to an empty briefing room. She let him go once they crossed the threshold and he heard the door shut and lock as he disabled the camera in the corner.

It wasn't a big room, about ten feet square, with a table and four chairs as the only furniture. He had barely pulled the cord from the wall when he was body checked into it. A shot of adrenaline surged through him, refocusing all the tension he'd been carrying as he wrestled Anko's arm from around his neck. He managed to twist around to face her, one hand busy prying her hand away from his neck and the other holding on to her thigh as she curled her leg around his, trying to get him off balance enough to hit the ground.

"This wasn't what I thought you had in mind." He flinched as her nails caught skin as she ripped his mask down but soon forgot the sting when she leaned up and attached her mouth to his. Her grip on his neck eased and then left as she used both hands to rip his shirt out of his pants so that she could get to his skin.

She pulled away long enough to say, "I'd rather fight then fuck, but they're threatening hospital beds with restraints if I don't behave."

"So I guess I better be gentle." His blood nearly sang in response to the look in her eyes.

"Don't you fucking dare." He could feel the blood welling in the tracks she left down his back from her nails.

With a burst of speed, he flipped them and slammed her up against the wall, his hands gripping tight to her hips, his face buried in the crook of her neck, letting himself let go of all the thoughts that had been crowding his head for the past two days, thinking only of the woman in front of him.

She would be bruised, he would be bloody, but at least they would be able to go back in that room without snapping and killing everyone.

XXXX

Sasuke could feel every pulse point in his abused arms throb along with his heartbeat. He was trying to focus on Iruka as he congratulated them on making it through the second test in one piece, though his congratulations took on a hollow caste as he herded them towards the waiting medical unit.

He was more interested in Sakura's condition than his own, infection had set in in the forest and she had a bit of fever glaze in her eyes he didn't like to see, but they were each ushered into their own curtained off cubicle.

He sat in silence as the medic made noises to the tune of 'recklessly stupid', 'lucky you still have use of your arms', and 'scars no matter what the treatment.' The only time he even gives a hint that he's not unconscious with his eyes open is when he feels the healing chakra start to work on his arms and can't help the sigh of relief.

She glares at him as she wraps his arms from elbow to second finger knuckle and there are more mutters about what he's to do, and not do for certain lengths of time. All of it just floats through his brain and he makes appropriate noises indicating that he listening, but really he just wants out of there.

His wish is granted and he's all but shoved out into the hallway where Naruto and Iruka are waiting. Naruto straightens from where he'd been leaning against the wall and he isn't subtle about the once over he gives Sasuke.

"You alright?"

Sasuke holds up his bandaged arms and shrugs, talking requiring too much effort. He tips his head in Naruto's direction with an inquisitive look on his face.

Naruto shrugs. "Some bruises, but they don't even really hurt anymore." He leaned back against the wall and Sasuke moved to join him. "We just gotta wait for Sakura. Iruka says they got food for us in the main area, because 'parently," he rolls his eyes to emphasize "the test still isn't over and we got to stay in the tower till the time runs out." He scratches his neck and shrugs, "At least they're gonna feed us right? Getting a little sick of forest food."

Sasuke huffs out a nearly silent laugh.

Iruka makes a face. "I wouldn't expect much, Naruto. I think it's ration bars and water, mostly..."

"I had to eat a mushroom…raw! Ration bars sound like heaven." Sasuke swears Naruto drools a little, "Especially the strawberry ones…Hey, you think they have any of those left? I mean, I'm hungry enough to eat the chocolate ones and those are just…well, let's just say it would be a toss-up between those and the mushroom."

Sasuke lets Naruto's babbling wash over him, leaning against the wall and rubbing the hem of his borrowed shirt between his fingers. It was a truce, though Sasuke had a feeling Naruto was less understanding of his point of view and more just wanted the fight to go away. Sasuke was just glad to have a shirt again, and glad Naruto hadn't offered that awful orange jacket. Olive branch or not, Sasuke wouldn't have worn that jacket unless it meant the difference between dying of exposure or not.

Naruto cut off mid-sentence when Sakura finally came out. They had cut the ragged and bloodied end of her dress off, and wrapped a large white bandage around her middle. Her color looked better, too and her eyes were clear, if still tired.

"Eight stitches." She looked positively proud of the fact. Sasuke was still too guilty that he'd almost let her get gutted to feel anything positive about her getting hurt, but Naruto was making the appropriate awed noises.

"…and I didn't even get a band-aid…I feel left out." Naruto exaggerated the pout to get a smile out of Sakura.

Sakura turned to Sasuke and tucked her hair behind an ear, not quite looking him in the eyes. "Sasuke, I wanted to say…I mean if it weren't for you…"

But Sasuke didn't want to hear her finish that sentence. Didn't want it enough he was willing to push off the wall and say, "Iruka said something about food, let's go."

Sakura stared at the ground for a second before nodding and then offering him a shy smile. "Okay."

Naruto shot a look between the two before plastering a huge smile on his face and nearly bouncing his way down the hall.

Iruka muttered something about hyper active tornados before yelling, "You don't even know where you're going."

Naruto skidded to a stop and turned back. "Well hurry up, slow pokes, or all the strawberry ones will be gone!"

XXX

"Team 7 has made it to the Tower."

Sarutobi looked up from the paperwork that had scattered all over his desk and studied the shinobi standing in front of him. "With a scroll?"

"Yes, sir. Uchiha laid a trap near the Tower, caught a team coming in."

"Injuries?" Sarutobi let himself have a moment of relief that the team made it to the Tower in one piece. He was worried how attached Kakashi seemed to be to his team and just what it would do to him if he lost it. He hadn't been too worried that Naruto wouldn't make it out of the forest, even when he saw the giant snake swallow him down, he knew it would take more than that, but the other two…

"Uzumaki had minimal cuts and bruises, Haruno received eight stitches and was showing signs of infection, and Uchiha had severe chakra burns to both arms. All showed signs of exhaustion and chakra loss."

Sarutobi nodded once before casting a look around his office. There were many shinobi crowded in it, yet he didn't spot the one he wanted. "Where's Hatake?" he asked the room at large.

A nervous looking nin, with her arms full of paperwork, spoke up. "I saw him leave with Mitarashi an hour ago."

"Well, somebody find him." He had to fight the smile that tried to form as he saw the panicked looks directed his way. "Just, make sure you knock."


	14. Chapter 14

AN- Thank you Thank you THANK YOU for all the reviews! (also if you want, this fic is also up on AO3. I know some prefer their format)

Chapter 14

There was one strawberry flavored ration bar left and Sasuke couldn't even feign shock that Naruto gave it up to Sakura.

They'd managed to get the far left corner balcony of the large open room and set up 'camp' with Sakura in the middle and the boys on either side, a dozen ration bars and a couple bottles of water between them.

There were five teams currently sharing the large space and they all were keeping to themselves, still too in the forest mindset to mingle, even among friends. The three Leaf teams were camped out on one balcony while the Sand and the Rain team each hugged a corner of the other balcony.

Sasuke's memory of the preliminaries was hazy at best, but he knew things were already different. The Rain team didn't make it through the Forest last time and Kabuto's team wasn't in the Tower yet. Neither was Team 8. The large screen on the wall was showing a countdown with three hours and thirty two minutes remaining, so there was time for other teams to make it to the Tower before time ran out.

He idly wondered what the cutoff number was to cause preliminaries. Fifteen seemed like too many to push through to the third test, and it was an odd number…he could step aside when they called for a volunteer. He was injured; nobody would find it odd or object, except maybe Naruto, but well…

He only got to nurse that thought for another hour, then Kabuto's team came through the doors and the number changed to an even eighteen. He could feel eyes on him but he carefully kept himself turned away from where Kabuto's team settled on the opposite balcony. There was no reason to let Kabuto know he didn't have the curse seal. It was doubtful that Orochimaru dropped by to let Kabuto know the seal didn't take and the Sound team was in no position to report to Kabuto, if that had ever been in the plans to begin with.

So Sasuke kept his shoulders pulled up to his ears as he leaned back against the wall and watched Sakura pick knots out of her tangled hair. She had been at it for nearly half an hour before Naruto spoke up.

"Why do you keep it long? Doesn't it bug you? It would drive me crazy always getting in my face and you gotta brush it every day…"

She shot Sasuke a look that genuinely baffled him before going back to a particularly tangled piece and muttering, "It's worth it." Oh. Well then.

Naruto made a face and Sasuke made a decision. He palmed a kunai that he lifted off the Sound Team with one hand and shifted Sakura so that she was facing away from him with the other.

"Sasuke…what?"

But Sasuke didn't answer, he just ran his fingers through her hair and then gathered the tangled and matted tail in his hand before slicing it off quickly with the kunai. It was a little jagged, and fell just above her shoulders.

When she turned to look at him, eyes wide with shock and a hand coming up to grab at her now shorter hair, he looked her dead in the eye, the hand with the kunai steady on her shoulder.

"It looks good short."

Sakura just stared at him and blinked a few times before running a hand through her hair. "You think so?"

Luckily for Sasuke, as he really didn't want to continue this conversation, Naruto interjected with, "Of course it looks good. You'd be pretty bald."

Naruto's earnest face crumpled a bit when Sakura turned on him with a glare. "I am not shaving my head…and you better not try it as a prank either if you like your nose where it is…"

"I didn't mean…I'd never…" Naruto sighed. "I just meant that you'd be pretty anyway…you'll always be pretty."

Sakura's face softened at that, her hand still running through her hair. "Thanks."

Her eyes shifted to the floor below. "Oh, look. Hinata's team made it."

True enough, with only thirty three minutes to spare, Team 8 walked in the door and bumped their number up to an odd twenty one. Five Leaf teams, a Rain team and a Sand team. It seemed a bit unbalanced in favor of the hosting village and Sasuke wondered what the other Kages would have to say about that or if it was just expected.

Soon enough, proctors are herding them down from the balconies and lining them up in the center of the room. Sasuke carefully kept a few people between his team and Kabuto or the Sand Siblings.

Sasuke fought the yawn that threatens when the Hokage starts to drone on about how proud they should be to have made it this far and explaining the preliminaries. He just wants to fall gracefully, he really hopes he pulls an opponent that will make that easy, and then go home and sleep for as long as his body will let him. He's given up on the hope that Kabuto won't volunteer to step down and he can take that way out. It's probably too risky of a move in any case. Too far out of character.

So he's not surprised, when the proctor asks if anybody wants to give up now, to make it an even number, that Kabuto makes his excuses. He just wants to get this over with. The next time Naruto tries to convince him to do something he knows is going to end badly, he's going to break his nose.

Finally, the proctor gestured up at the large screen that dominates the one wall and explains about the random way their opponents are selected. An undercurrent of anticipation runs through the room as the screen lights up, flashing through the possibilities, before landing on the first match-up.

There's voices talking but Sasuke can't hear any of the words. He feels the adrenaline flash through his body as he stares at the two faces splashed across the screen in larger than life color. He can't seem to get a full breath in and he's just on this side of panicking but tries to keep it off his face as he turns to Sakura.

She gives him a weak smile and says, "Guess I'm first." Her smile turns to alarm as he grabs her upper arms in a death grip.

"Forfeit."

"What? I can't…" Her eyes narrow as he shakes her a bit. "Sasuke, I can't just give up without even trying."

Sasuke searches her face, trying to find a crack to exploit, when he realizes he doesn't have the time. The proctor is headed their way, most likely wondering why he hasn't left the floor.

He leans forward so that their foreheads are almost touching and whispers, "Forgive me." He watches a flash of confusion cross her face before it contorts in pain, his fist in her injured side the cause. He moves quickly, knocking her unconscious even as he feels the proctor wrench one of his arms behind his back.

There's noise and people moving and him being wrestled away from the fallen Sakura but he only has eyes for her would be opponent.

Gaara just tips his head to the side and watches, more interested than warned off by the fact that Sasuke is practically snarling at him as he's being dragged from the room.

XXX

When asked, most people would describe Kakashi as easy going, unflappable and late. Ask those who served with him and you might get words like loyal, highly intelligent and crafty. Ask anyone's who's ever had the misfortune to see him angry and you might get a variety of words but they would all boil down to one…terrifying.

Kakashi wasn't happy and he wasn't really concerned who knew it. He stalked down the corridors of I&T and shinobi of various rank all scurried to get out of his way trying to stay out of his radar. Well, except one.

Ibiki just hands over a stack of files to a wide eyed younger man when he spots Kakashi. "Tell Anko to file these. And I mean file them, not just shove them in a random file cabinet. If I come back and they're not where they're supposed to be, tell her I'll revoke her integration privileges."

The man shoots a wide eyed glance at Kakashi and a muttered, "Yes, sir." at Ibiki and nearly disappears he leaves so fast. Once he's gone, Ibiki turned to Kakashi with a smile.

"Ah, you're here to pick up the Uchiha. Come on, I'll walk with you."

Ibiki doesn't seem fazed at all by the black mood Kakashi's in and falls easily into step as they go further into the compound.

"You know, we do a psych eval on every Academy student after the first year and when they take the Exit Exams."

Kakashi makes a noncommittal noise and wonders where Ibiki is going with this. Ibiki is very good at his job and idle conversations with him are never idle.

"All things considered, Uchiha's evals came out the way we expected. The first showed a little boy who was very committed to making his father proud and thought his older brother was a god to be worshiped and emulated. His second…" Ibiki pauses and makes an offhand motion with his hand. "Well, we expected the change. He might not've worshipped his brother any more, but he was still hard pressed to be the best of the best and didn't seem to care who he stepped on to get to the top of the pile."

Kakashi stopped walking and leaned up against the hallway wall, giving Ibiki his full attention. "You've seen the tapes."

Ibiki leaned on the wall across from him. "You noticed the change. I was wondering if it was just your influence, though it seemed to happen to quickly. When did you notice?" When Kakashi didn't answer Ibiki just smiled and continued, "I threw every identifying test at him that I could think of." There was a deliberate pause, then, "He's Uchiha Sasuke."

Kakashi doesn't let out the breath he's holding but something must give his relief away because Ibiki just smiles wider. "His fight in the forest was impressive."

A little pissed at being read so easily, Kakashi chewed the inside of his mouth before reluctantly asking, "And the other fight?"

"Wasn't really much of a fight," he holds up a placating hand and rolls his eyes when Kakashi glares at him. "Have you ever seen a kid who would rather break his toy than let another kid play with it?"

When Kakashi just continues to glare at him, he just shrugs and turns to walk away, "Just think about it. I could tell you more if the Hokage would give me the go ahead…" He flashes a smile as Kakashi's glare ratchets up a few notches. "Uchiha's on level six. No need to break your toy, Kakashi, I won't touch him."

Kakashi grinds his teeth and continues on his way.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Are you sure you're okay to walk? I could get you a wheelchair…nobody would think any less of you…" The last was whispered in an undertone, as if that would go unheard in a shinobi hospital.

Sakura huffed at her hovering mother, and tried to walk a little faster than the hobbling along she was doing. The sooner they got out of here, the sooner she could hole up in her room and think. "I'm fine, Mom."

"You are not fine." Sakura's stomach churned at the worry evident in her mother voice. "You have two cracked ribs and ten stitches…not to mention all the bruises. And your hair!" Sakura resisted the urge to touch her shortened locks. "You know, when you told me you wanted to be a shinobi I knew that there was a possibility that you would get hurt. But I figured it would be in defense of the village or on some mission. Not some exam that should have proctors to keep the candidates from getting injured. I can just imagine what your uncle is going to say."

Swallowing thickly, Sakura looked away from her mother's face. No one had mentioned that it was her own teammate that put her in this condition, and Sakura was not going to correct her mother thinking it had been an opponent. She couldn't even explain to herself why Sasuke had attacked her, she wasn't going to try and explain it to her mother.

Especially while floating on these lovely painkillers. And she wasn't on enough painkillers to contemplate what her uncle was going to say about all this.

A bright flash of color caught her eye as they were passing through the lobby and she turned to read a notice posted to the bulletin board.

"Sakura? Is something wrong?"

She hadn't even realized she had stopped walking until her mother had to backtrack a few steps to see why she stopped. A small smile stretched her lips as an idea took root and bloomed. "No, Mom. Something might just be right."

XXX

Naruto picked up the dirty glass and walked it over to the small kitchen counter, but didn't bother to actually wash it or even put it in the sink. He paced out of the kitchen area of his small apartment and walked the ten feet to the opposite wall and stared at pile of clothes that hid his futon, and tried to remember if they were the clean clothes pile or the dirty clothes pile. He gingerly sniffed at one shirt and with a grimace knocked the whole pile off and flopped dramatically down on the now bare space.

He was only there for a moment, before he was up and pacing around again. He'd be doing this pacing outside of the crowded and increasingly messy apartment, but the old man had been serious about not roaming around the village, enough to give him an ANBU babysitter sitting just outside his building.

So he was stuck, with nothing but his messy apartment and messy thoughts to keep him occupied.

He should be sleeping. He was supposed to meet Kakashi for training in six hours, though he didn't expect Kakashi to make it on time. Of course he wouldn't, he'd probably be too busy getting the Bastard out of T&I to make it on time to train the only genin he had left in the Exam.

Naruto wanted to throw something, to break something, to give physical form to the frustration and anger clawing at his gut. But he didn't want the ANBU to come sniffing around or for it to get back to the Hokage that he was needlessly destroying his possessions.

The old man was disappointed with him enough.

It's not like it was his fault the fight in the forest was fuzzy. He couldn't seem to remember much that happened after Sakura got hurt, just flashes and a whole lot of rage. They didn't even seem impressed that he had figured out how to get out of the giant snake. They just kept asking questions about the Bastard.

He was all anyone ever cared about.

XXX

Sasuke was on the other side of exhausted, where everything got the too sharp edges and he could almost hear himself blink. He was laid out on a short wooden bench that took up most of one of the walls of the six by six cell they threw him in.

He wasn't particularly worried, if they really thought he was a threat, he'd be in a much worse cell. This one even had a window. Sure, it wasn't big enough to get his fist through, but he could see the outside sky through it and it's enough to tell him he wasn't even underground.

He itched at the blood stiffened bandages wrapped around his arms, his wounds had opened up in the struggle, and stared dully at the silver rings that made it hard to scratch the itchy parts of his wrist.

Chakra blocking manacles, not that he had enough chakra left to pull off the most basic jutsu at the moment, but they were SOP so he was stuck with them.

He stretched his arms back behind his head, propped one dirty sandaled foot up against the wall and was just starting to doze off when the lock turned in his cell door. He leaned his head off the edge of the bench and stared at the upside down, angry face of Kakashi.

Sasuke learned to judge just how pissed Kakashi was at him by how angry he looked. If he didn't look angry at all (even though he should) you were in trouble. If he actually looked pissed, you were in deep trouble. If he looked completely blank… not angry, not bored, not anything…you were neck deep in trouble and sinking. He'd only seen that look on Kakashi's face once, and that had been after he had gutted Sakura and left her to die.

After that, he could deal with angry face Kakashi.

He swung up into a seated position, held for a moment to wait for the room to stop spinning, and then pushed his way to his feet. Most of his body protested the movement, his arms screaming the loudest, but he tried to keep his discomfort off his face.

Kakashi jerked his head in the universal sign of 'let's go' before turning and disappearing out of the doorway. Sasuke willed his exhausted body to follow, hoping this was a short trip with a horizontal sleeping surface at the end.

He didn't hold much hope of that after they made their way out of I&T and turned towards the Hokage Tower and away from his apartment.

He wondered if he was going to get the silent treatment the whole way when Kakashi broke the silence.

"Why?"

Even with an exhausted and fuzzy mind, Sasuke didn't need the question clarified. He stretched his neck and stared at the night sky, straining to see the stars through all the lights of the village.

"He was going to kill her." It's not stated in a defensive manner, just flat fact, and it's enough to get Kakashi to actually look at him.

"So you broke two of her ribs, ripped her side open and rendered her unconscious to save her life?"

Sasuke blinked, and returned his gaze to the street in front of him. "I broke her ribs?" The question was mostly rhetorical and he didn't expect an answer but it was enough of a surprise that he had to ask the question aloud. After a few more beats of silence he answered Kakashi's question.

"Yes. Better broken than dead."

"That's a bleak way of looking at things. How about neither?"

Sasuke couldn't help what suspiciously sounded like a giggle to escape from behind his teeth. "Then she should have chosen a different profession."

Kakashi couldn't seem to find an argument to that and they walked the rest of the way to the Hokage Tower in silence, Sasuke keeping himself awake by spotting their ANBU escort. By the time they walked through the office doors, he'd spotted four.

The office was empty besides the Hokage sitting behind his desk and the two ANBU that bracketed the door leading out into Tower. Sasuke followed a step behind Kakashi into the room and came to a stop just as the Hokage flipped closed a folder and looked up from his paperwork.

The Hokage's face softened when he eyes landed on Sasuke, a small smile tipping his lips up at the ends. "I believe congratulations are in order."

Sasuke just blinked as his brain grappled with that totally unexpected opening. After a few seconds passed and he still had no clue how he was supposed to take that, he settled with a polite, "Sir?"

The look he was leveled with had more pity than Sasuke was comfortable with. "I understand that a celebration was in order when an Uchiha first activated the Sharingan. It is truly unfortunate that your father didn't live to see his second son achieve this milestone."

The words are like a punch to the gut, stealing the air straight from his lungs. Which was rather fortunate, as it prevented the hysterical giggle from leaving his throat at the irony. He missed a bit of what the Hokage was saying as he focused on keeping an appropriate look on his face.

"…exhausted, but we really must go over what happened in the Forest."

Sasuke didn't like the look he was getting then any more than the look he got before. They knew what happened in the Forest, or at least parts of it. He didn't know if the information came from his teammates, or if they had some sort of surveillance hidden in the Forest but he knew that his story needed to match whatever they already knew. So he went with the truth. Mostly.

He didn't get interrupted until he got to the fight with Orochimaru.

"Did he say anything that seemed odd?"

Sasuke made a show of thinking it over. "The whole thing was odd. I mean, he was clearly nuts. Didn't seem to care at all about the exam…" he chewed his lip tried to look ashamed. "I wasn't really listening to what he was saying, I was too busy trying to stay alive." He kept his eyes aimed at the floor even though he wanted to check how they were taking his story.

"You did a good job of that, how did you get away?"

"I'm not…really sure. He was going after Naruto…and I don't know what he was going to do, but I just knew it wasn't going to be good," Sasuke swallowed thickly, playing the mentally and physically exhausted twelve year old wasn't really that hard at the moment. "But then he grabbed me, and he bit me…and then there was just pain." He looked up at that point and let the emotions bleed through. "And I just wanted it to stop."

"And how did you get it to stop?"

Sasuke shook his head, every fiber of his being radiated beaten down and broken, a thing to be pitied. "I don't know…it's just…there was pain…just building and building until…it just burst." He chewed his bottom lip, and stared at his bandaged hands. "My arms were on fire, but it felt better, you know? Like an abscess had been lanced and all the infection had poured out."

"You're very lucky that it did."

"Sir?" He looked up, hoping that his story was being bought, but he couldn't read the Hokage's face. Kakashi had stepped back when they stopped in front of the desk, and therefore was out of Sasuke's line of sight, so he couldn't even use him as a gauge.

"It was a very dangerous man that you encountered and you did a good job keeping yourself and your team alive. What happened after the jutsu failed."

"He left."

"He just left? Didn't try another jutsu or any other attack?"

Sasuke knew he couldn't pull off wide eyed innocence but he tried for confusion. "He just said he'd see me around and then took off. I was more worried about my teammates."

Sasuke felt a bit adrift as he didn't trust the old man, didn't like him, and really was just biding his time till he was out of the way, but he couldn't figure out the game they were playing. He had expected judgment and anger, after all he'd been thrown in an I&T cell and clapped in manacles, but he was getting grandfatherly concern and praise. And unlike Orochimaru and Madara, the Hokage actually pulled it off with a sense of sincerity.

It was disconcerting to say the least.

The Hokage stared at him for a few moments in silence before clapping his hands together and saying, "I suppose we will just have to keep an eye out for that. Well then, now, we just need to cover your little incident in the preliminaries. You're disqualified from the Exam of course, which is unfortunate, but not the first time the exam has taken a mental toll on one of the contestants. You'll be on probation for the next month, at which point a hearing will be held to see if team placements should be changed. Kakashi will go over the conditions of your probation; it's pretty standard for anyone attacking a member of their own team. Any questions?"

Sasuke shook his head, not really caring about what hoops he'd need to jump through. He really just wanted to wash the filth from his skin and pass out.

A smile stretched the Hokage's face that set a curl of unease in Sasuke's stomach. "I'm sure you are exhausted. Go get some rest. You're dismissed."

Sasuke executed a halfhearted bow and followed Kakashi out of the office.

AN- Sorry this was so late…life has been chaotic :) Reviews are love


	16. Chapter 16

AN- A new chapter already? I know, I'm as shocked as you are. Thanks to all those who reviewed :) and even if you didn't I'm just glad if you're enjoying :) Be warned, however, that this chapter is not fluffy and contains nonconsensual drugging of a minor

Chapter 16

The walk to Sasuke's apartment was one of tense silence. Kakashi kept a close eye on Sasuke, his hand twitching every time the boy stumbled. But Sasuke always managed to right himself before Kakashi could decide to reach out and steady him.

One in the hospital, one stumbling down the street in manacles and the other…Kakashi shied away from the thought of Naruto. He'd barely managed a 'good job' for the boy when he returned victorious from his match. Naruto's smile had been brittle and the first thing he'd asked for was if he could go see Sakura now that his match was over. When Kakashi had explained that he couldn't, he didn't even put up a fight.

Team 7 was shattered and drifting past Kakashi's grasping fingers. He was the leader, he was the one they would be looking towards to fix this, the responsibility lay firmly on his shoulders. And he was failing them.

They made it to Sasuke's apartment and Kakashi dismissed their escort with a hand sign before shutting the door behind them.

"Go take a shower. I need to rewrap your arms." His tone came out a bit sharper than he intended, but Sasuke didn't even acknowledge the order beyond making a beeline for his bedroom.

Kakashi resisted the urge to follow him, to make sure he was actually doing as ordered instead of just collapsing on his bed in a heap, and started pulling out bandages, ointments and a capped syringe from the various pockets on his vest. He tried really hard to ignore the way his shoulders relaxed slightly when the sound of running water started.

He gave himself a moment to regroup and force his resolve into something more solid than a candle in a Kohona heat wave, and then took a seat at the table to wait.

This was why he never passed a genin team before Team 7. When his entire team was dead, it was easy to always put Kohona first. The good of the many outweighed the betrayal of the few, when the few he considered close enough to feel betrayed if he put Kohona's interest ahead of theirs, weren't in any position to feel anything.

When the water turned off, his stomach clenched in anticipation. This type of thing was always both harder and easier when the person across the table trusted you not to stick a kunai in their back or put poison in their water. Easier to do, harder to live with yourself afterwards.

The breath caught in his throat when Sasuke appeared in the doorway. Clad only in black shorts, his skin nearly glowed white where it wasn't black and purple. His arms were raw and blistered, some spots oozing where scabs had been ripped open during his shower. A white towel stained pink was twisted in his fingers.

He collapsed into the chair next to Kakashi and flipped the towel out flat on the table. "Figured I'd just ruin one." He laid his battered arms out on the bloodstained cloth and tipped his head against the back of his chair.

"Good plan." Kakashi's hands don't tremble when he picks the syringe up in one hand and the alcohol swab in the other. "This first. It's supposed to help with the scarring." The lie passed easily through his teeth. Sasuke did nothing but shrug and close his eyes, trusting his sensei.

It was almost enough to stop him, that show of complete trust, but Kakashi had already decided on this course of action and hopefully Sasuke would never have to know his trust was betrayed. Sasuke didn't even flinch as Kakashi found the only portion of his upper arm that wasn't bruised and pushed the needle home.

"You might feel a bit dizzy," he warned. "I would really appreciate it if you didn't puke on me, so let me know if that becomes an issue. And try to stay awake, you probably should eat something before you pass out."

The corner of Sasuke's mouth tipped up but he didn't move his head. "Noted."

Kakashi gently picked up the arm closest to him and straightened it, frowning at the silver obstacle he's going to have to bandage around. The fact that Sasuke was on the brink of total chakra exhaustion didn't seem to matter to the processors in I&T. Deft fingers dipped into the open jar of ointment and began to generously lather the blistered and broken skin.

He was going to wait a few minutes more when Sasuke broke the silence for him.

"You were right."

Kakashi didn't pause in his ministrations. "It happens so often yet I'm consistently surprised by others' shock."

Sasuke huffed a breath and tipped his head forward to stare at him through unfocused eyes. "Asshole." There was no heat in the insult. "It was a bad idea. I almost went," he made a low explosion noise with his mouth and spread his fingers wide on the hand Kakashi wasn't working on.

"That would have been bad."

Sasuke's mouth tipped into a smile and Kakashi idly thought that this was the most open he'd seen his student in months. The thought sent a little sting of guilt through him that he quickly squashed.

"Mah, maybe I'd have taken Orochimaru out in the backlash." There was a beat of silence and then, "Knowing my luck, probably not." His head leaned back against the backrest and his eyes slid shut.

Kakashi chose his next words with care. "He's a tricky bastard. Wouldn't be the first time he's slipped out of something that should have killed him."

"Hn. I got arrogant. Thought if it came down to it, I could take him."

Kakashi reached for Sasuke's other wrist and took a gamble, "Is that why you didn't tell the Hokage about knowing who he was, you were embarrased?"

He knew his gamble was a loss when Sasuke glared at him with eyes that while still unfocused, were too considering. "What do you…" Sasuke's eyes widened and he flipped his wrist, dislodging Kakashi's loose grip on his arm and grabbing onto Kakashi's wrist with surprising strength.

His grip tightened for a heartbeat before he dropped it and was moving. It wasn't a graceful retreat, the chair ended up in a heap and he slammed his shoulder into the wall, but Kakashi couldn't help but be impressed that Sasuke ended up with a kunai in his hand. He held it in his right hand, blade out in a defensive manner while his left braced against the wall trying to keep him upright.

Kakashi stayed seated and lifted both hands up in a placating manner. "Easy."

Sasuke just stared at him for a beat before slumping, and touching the ring of the kunai to his forehead. "You drugged me." The tone wasn't even accusatory, just amused. He slid a little further down the wall, losing the battle to stay upright.

There was no use in denying it. "Yes, I needed answers."

Sasuke finally fell into a crouch, the spike of adrenaline that got him across the room no longer able to keep him on his feet. "You could have just asked."

"I needed honest answers."

"I see your point." His forearm rested on his upright knee, the blade of the kunai no longer pointed in Kakashi's direction. "And is it just you that needed answers?"

"If you're asking if this is an official investigation, then no."

"I was asking if I should expect to wake up strapped to a table in I&T."

"Ah, not unless this conversation goes very poorly."

Sasuke sighed and sunk further against the wall. "Noted. Ask your questions so I can go to sleep."

Kakashi took a moment to reorder his thoughts. Sasuke would be more apt to try to lie, but the drug coursing through his veins was going to make it difficult for him. "How did you know it was Orochimaru?"

"Made my skin crawl."

"That… didn't really answer my question."

Sasuke just closed his eyes. "What do you really want to know?"

Kakashi felt something twist in his chest. Sinking out of his chair, he crouched in front of Sasuke, still mindful of the kunai held in the boy's hand. "What happened?"

Curling even further in on himself, Sasuke peered at him over his drawn up knees. "Where should I start?" There was a hint of hysteria in his voice.

"Wave. What happened in Wave?"

A humorless smile stretched across Sasuke's face. "You've known since Wave? Of course you have." Sasuke shifted forward, his left hand coming down to balance on the floor, his eyes fever bright. "This is all that damn fox's fault. He should've known I was too broken for this…" The laugh that bubbled out was a dark and brittle thing. Sasuke bowed his head, his shoulders tight with tension. "This was his revenge, wasn't it? Give me the chance to save them, and then laugh his ass off as I fall to pieces." The words were mostly addressed to the floor.

"Who?" When Sasuke blinks up at him in confusion, he clarified, "Save who?" He'd like to ask about the 'damn fox', surely he can't mean the Kyuubi, but Sasuke was fading fast and he only had few minutes more to get answers.

Sasuke listed to the side as he considered Kakashi and Kakashi gave into the urge to reach out a hand to steady him. "Them. You. Kohona. The world." The kunai clattered as it fell from his hand and he reached up and tangled his now free hand in Kakashi's vest. "You have to save them. They can't burn…I can't watch them burn…" Sasuke head fell with a dull thud against Kakashi's chest.

"From who?" Kakashi couldn't help but shake the boy softly when he didn't answer right away. "Who am I saving them from?"

Sasuke's head tipped up, his chin digging painfully even through Kakashi's vest. His face was wide open, desperation clear in every line and angle even as his eyes threatened to slide shut.

"Madara." He breathed the name before he lost the battle with consciousness and slumped fully into Kakashi.

He gave himself a moment to stare in confusion at the top of Sasuke's head, before he gathered the boy in his arms and headed for his bedroom. He stopped briefly at the table to pick up the abandoned bandages.

He let his thoughts whirl like white noise in his head, focusing on finishing up the job he started on Sasuke's arms. Once done, he pulled the blanket up to Sasuke's chin, trying to ignore how young and small he looked lying there. One quick trip around the apartment to set a few non-lethal traps at the entry points and then Kakashi closed the door behind him. Still not letting his thoughts solidify, he slipped down the steps and came to a stop by the crooked tree standing sentinel by the sidewalk.

"He should be out for the next twelve hours. I should be back by then." He didn't expect, nor wait for a response, instead twisting his fingers into a familiar knot and disappearing into a cloud of smoke and leaves.

He was supposed to meet Naruto in three hours, and it was a meeting he was planning on being mostly on time for, so he didn't even spare a glance at his bed once his apartment came into focus around him.

He stripped on his way to the bathroom, his vest and hitai-ate landing on the dresser, everything else hitting the floor, and finally called to heel the thoughts that had been chasing their tails in his head.

He closed his eyes and stood beneath the warm spray of water and began to put a picture together out of the pieces he'd gained.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Deep in thought, Naruto walked right passed Kakashi perched in a tree without seeing him. He slumped against one of the thick wooden posts that lined one end of the training ground and prepared to wait for his notoriously late sensei.

"You're late."

Naruto jerked in surprise, overbalancing and landing on his butt in the dirt. His mouth gaped open as he located Kakashi among the leaves. "I…you…but…"

Kakashi leaped lightly down from the branch and closed the distance between them as Naruto continued to sputter in shock. He dipped his head in feigned confusion and asked, "Didn't we agree to meet at 0500?"

Shock quickly morphed into frustrated anger, an emotion he was much more comfortable with concerning his annoying sensei and he pulled himself off of the ground to point a finger at Kakashi. "You are never on time!" His eye started twitching when Kakashi merely shrugged this accusation away.

"I only have a month to get you ready. I figure I'm going to need every minute of that if you're going to come out of the fight alive." While Naruto was still trying to figure out how to respond to that in words rather than frustrated growls, Kakashi walked passed him to where a pile of logs was stacked just behind the line of posts.

Distracted from his indignation, Naruto watched as Kakashi lifted a log and carried it over to balance on top of two posts, making a doorway of sorts. He picked another log from the pile and slammed one end down into the earth so that it stood on end twenty feet from the others. Naruto's complete confusion seemed to amuse Kakashi.

"We are going to work on kunai throwing."

Naruto's frustrated groans echoed across the training ground. "But Sensei…I know how to throw a kunai. I need to learn something cool if I'm going to beat Ino…"

A glare was leveled his way and he clicked his mouth shut. "You are going to hang upside down from the crosspiece with chakra and throw kunai at the log. When you can hit the log ten times in a row without falling, we will move on."

He huffed, but moved to do as he was told. As he stared up at the crosspiece, deciding on how to get up there without knocking it off the posts, his thoughts turned to what had been plaguing his mind since the fight in the forest.

"Hey, Sensei." Something in his tone must have conveyed this wasn't an attempt to get out of this training exercise but something serious, because Kakashi looked up from where he had settled to read without a word of reprimand. "I wanted…well, I feel like I need to tell you something." He had Kakashi's full attention and it was a bit intimidating, but now that he'd brought it up, he felt he couldn't back down now. "The fight in the forest…"

"You remembered something?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, not that fight." Keeping eye contact was proving difficult so he stared out at the trees surrounding the training grounds. "We fought a Sound team after…well _after_, and Sakura and me, we tried to just give them the scrolls, you know? Because she was hurt and Sas- _he _was hurt and well…they weren't really interested in the scrolls, so we had to fight. And I could've taken down my two and Sakura was totally kicking ass," A smile lit his face for a moment before it was wiped away. "And then he just appeared and suddenly I only had one enemy to worry about and we were working so great together…" He swallowed thickly, remembering the rush of blood and chakra, and the intoxicated feeling of knowing they were going to win.

"But then…I thought he was just going to knock him out. I thought…" Naruto shook his head, forcing out the images of a bloodstained kunai and Sasuke's cold eyes. "It happened so fast. And he wasn't even sorry!"

"Are you?"

The quiet question had Naruto snapping his attention away from the trees and back on Kakashi's face. "Of course I am! He_ killed_ someone. He didn't have to, yet he did it anyway! And he didn't even CARE!"

Kakashi's head tilted to the side. "I've killed people, Naruto." Naruto flinched. "I've killed people when I didn't have to. I've killed people who simply had the misfortune to be fighting on the wrong side. They were probably good people, loyal nin to their village, believed in their Kages and had families and friends waiting at home for them. But they were also a risk. There was a risk that if I left them alive, someone who trusted in me would die. If I killed them, the risk was gone."

Naruto dropped his gaze down to the dirt. "You sound like him."

"Hm?"

"He said, 'Mercy is just a luxury for the strong and a liability for the weak.'"

"That's an interesting ideal to live by."

Naruto scoffed, his hands tightening into fists as determination flowed through him. "Then I want to be strong. I want to be strong enough for mercy."

He expected laughter, or derision. Instead Kakashi just leveled a look at him. "Then get to work."

XXX

Naruto was red faced with sweat dripping into his eyes, yet he didn't dare take his focus away to wipe the sweat away. He'd been working for nearly six hours, the first two merely figuring out how to hang upside down on a wobbly log and throw a kunai with any kind of accuracy. Now he could get five to hit without losing his balance or exploding the log under his feet with chakra.

He'd exploded four so far.

He was just about to throw his sixth when he spotted Sakura walking towards them, lost his concentration, and fell head first in the dirt.

"Is he alright?"

Naruto contemplated just lying there, hoping the earth would open up and swallow him whole, but this was Sakura, and he really wanted to know how she was doing. So in a move he hoped was smooth and graceful, but had a feeling was anything but, he got to his feet. "Hi Sakura!"

Kakashi waved off Sakura's concerns. "He has a hard head."

Sakura looked tired and worn but she offered a soft smile for Naruto as he closed the distance between them. "How are your ribs?"

Her shrug was followed by a wince but her voice was steady as she said, "I'll live. They say it'll take a few weeks before I can train without restrictions, but the breaks were clean and so they were easy to piece back together."

The anger, cooled somewhat during his workout, flared up again at the casual way she referred to her injuries. Injuries she shouldn't even have had to deal with. She shouldn't have to be thankful that the breaks were clean. The angry tirade in Naruto's head caused him to miss Sakura turning back to talk to Kakashi and he only tuned back in when he noticed Kakashi reading over a paper with the official seal of Konoha watermarked on the back, a standard for most official documents.

Kakashi looked up from the paper and leveled a look at Sakura. "You sure about this?"

"Sure about what?" Naruto's question was completely ignored.

Her spine straightened and she nodded once. "Yes, I think it's a good time, all things considered. Technically I won't even be eligible to be off the inactive roster until after the Exams are over, and then there's the whole…" She trailed off, a lost look on her face for a few moments, before clearing her throat and continuing. "Right now I'm more of a liability than an asset for any team I'm on…

"What do you mean, 'any team'?" Nobody paid him any attention, as usual.

"…so this is the best choice."

"If you're sure." Kakashi pulled a pen from nowhere and using Sakura's shoulder as a table, scrawled his name. "There you go." He paused with his hand on Sakura's shoulder, "Adding skills is always admirable…but you've always been an asset to this team." He stepped back and ran a hand through his hair.

"Would someone PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?"

This got him the look. The look that said Sakura was wondering why she put up with him. A look he almost never really deserved. But he was glad enough to get it now, because she was at least looking at him. He had a vague sort of feeling that his team, his family, was splintering into pieces and panic was starting to set up house in his stomach.

"There's no need to shout, Naruto. I'm just getting some extra training in while you train for the Finals."

Something that felt suspiciously like relief flowed through him. "Ah, that's good. I was worried…with everything, that you wouldn't want to be on Team 7 anymore." Truth be told, he was hoping for a quick reassurance.

Sakura's eyes softened. "Naruto, you will always be my friend, no matter what team I'm on." Not quite the reassurance he was looking for. She continued before he could comment. "But as I'm on Team 7 right now, and you're representing us in the Finals, you better not embarrass us out there." A smile spread across her face. "Ah, just don't die okay?"

He pasted on a smile he didn't really feel. "Die? I'm gonna win! You just watch, you'll be so proud to be on Team 7 you'll never want to be on another."

AN- It's short, and I'm sorry. It's late and I'm sorry. My RL world has kinda turned on its head (seriously, in the past few months I've gained custody of a 5 year old...a human 5 year old...with behavior issues. There are times (usually at 3 in the morning as I'm worried sick that I'm screwing this up royally) where I wonder how my life ended up here.) that being said, writing has fallen on the priority scale. It's not just a time thing, but motivation and mental energy is in short supply. I'm not abandoning this...at least I have no intentions to abandon it.

Thanks for reading and a huge thank you to everyone who has left reviews. You have no idea how much of a bright little spot of happiness it is to get an email telling me someone liked this story enough to review. Y'all are just awesome.


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